142 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 13-No. 9 



sects, one had been "sapsucking," and four 

 were empty. 



Red-]u>ad('d Wuodpec/ccr ■ live exMiiiiiicil, nil 

 contained seeds or berries including tluee with 

 acorns, none contained insects. 



Bcd-heUie.d Woodpecker; six examined, all 

 contained seeds or beri'ies, (tliree liad been eat- 

 ing acorns and one blacliberries.) 



Flicker; thirty-two examined, twenty-eiglit 

 contained seeds or berries, (tliirteen of which 

 had indulged in peanuts) rive insects, and two 

 were em|)ty. 



Thus one inindred stomachs were examined, 

 seventy-live contained seeds or berries, twenty- 

 seven Insects, one sap, and seven were empty. 



Nesting of the Field Sparrow at 

 Raleigh, N. C. in 1888. 



UV ('. S. HIM.MEKV. 



These birds began laying May 7tli, and a nest 

 with about half incubated eggs was found Aug. 

 2nd, this however, is not surprising as I found 

 my last nest last year on Aug 26tli, being the 

 hitest date I have ever found birds eggs in tliis 

 locality. 



The nests were built of grass, or weed stems 

 usually lined with borsidiair anil usually placed 

 in small busln'S oi- weed tussacks, two-thirds of 

 the nundjer being from one inch to one foot 

 from the ground, the remaining tliird being 

 from eighteen inches to five feet in height. 

 The favorite situation seems to be on sloping 

 hillsides in small thorn bushes, but the birds 

 are not particular, being abundant everywhere 

 in this locality. The set complement was al- 

 most invarialily four in tlie early part of the 

 season, tliough even then some nests only con- 

 tained three; but towards the end of the season 

 when the second or third layings were in pro- 

 gress, the set was more usually three than four. 



Nesting of the Tufted Tit in 1888. 



nv c. s. liuiMi.Ev, uAr.Kiint, n. c. 



I found three nests of this species this year, 

 two containing eggs and one young. 'I'he two 

 first I thought lather remarkable in situation 

 and so proceed to describe them. 



On April 28th, wliile looking for eggs in a 

 large tract of woods, I iiappened to look in a 

 hollow in a small dogwood, whereupon some- 

 thing squirmed aud tried to liide itself. On 



further investigation I discovered not a flying 

 s(piirr(d, as 1 expected, but a Tufted Tit. which 

 1 removed with some troulde and then collected 

 and packed a beautiful set of six eggs. The 

 opening of the hollow was about two feet from 

 the ground, and the boUow reached to the 

 earth, but for half the distance three sides of it 

 were gone. So the birds had piled up moss, 

 leaves, etc.. from the ground light up into the 

 hole and then lined the nest at the top with 

 white cat fur and a few pieces of snakeskin, 

 the eggs being at least eighteen inches from the 

 bottom of the nest. 



My next nest contained young, and was in a 

 still more peculiar posltlou. A dead birch limb 

 had rested In a live birch in a nearly upright 

 position until it was a mere hollow tube of thiu 

 bark. The birds had appropriated this and as 

 in the other one, had piled up dead leaves, moss 

 and dirt in the shell and then lined the top with 

 moss and lint cotton. This was found on l\lay 

 l.-)th. 



The third nest was found on .lune 8th in an 

 old apple tree and contained five eggs, slightly 

 Incubated. The hole was about eleven feet 

 high and the nest about a foot deep inside. 

 It was composed of grass, green moss and some 

 snakeskin. Like the first, the bird had to be 

 pulled olf her nest, and she also ajipaT'ently 

 tried to break her eggs, which was also a char- 

 acteristic of the first one. 



This concludes my experience with the Tuft- 

 ed Tit this year. Next year I hope to make a 

 nearer acquaintance with her and her eggs. 



Brief Notes from Raleigh, N. C. 



nv C. S. BUIMLEY. 



1 notice several articles in the .Inly O. & O. 

 which I can supplement a little by my own 

 experience. 



First on page 100, the article on the Yellow- 

 throated Warbler by Mr. Hoxle, leads me to 

 say that on April 24th of this year I found a 

 nest of this bird building, in a large pine; after 

 leaving the nest until May llth, my brother 

 took it, but to our disgust it only contained one 

 fresh egg. The nest was sixty-five feet from 

 the ground and twelve feet from the trunk of 

 the pine; being built on and among a number of 

 small twigs to which it was so firmly attached 

 that it was with considerable difficulty we got 

 it away. It was composed of grapevine bark 

 aud horsehair, lined heavily with white chicken 

 feathers and somewhat resembled the nest of the 



