150 



OKNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 13-No. 10 



hole, but oil the other side of the post, and was 

 composed of liut cottou, pine seed leaves, aud 

 bark shreds. 



Fourth. On April 26, we took a nest my 

 brother had found some days previously, but 

 had been unable to take without assistance, and 

 we had been jMevented by wet weather from 

 securing sooner. Tliis nest was fifteen feet high 

 in a bircli stub, aud proved to contain five hard 

 set eggs. Tlie nest was mainly composed of 

 birch bark witii a few pine seed leaves. On 

 May 9th my brother found a second nest of 

 this pair, and judged from the reluctance of 

 the bird to leave her nest that she was setting. 

 Unfortunately he could not see into the nest, 

 wliich ))roved, on breaking it out, to contain 

 only three fresii eggs. The nest was com- 

 posed of pine seed leaves and pieces of corn 

 shucks and was twelve feet liigh in a slim aud 

 shaky dead stub. 



With Rope and Irons. 



BY II. n. BKI5ILET. 



Plenty of information as to the finding the 

 nests of certain birds can be gleaned from the 

 O. & O., but the writers usually^ leave one in 

 blissful ignorance of the way in which they 

 take a difficult nest. Perhaps this omission is 

 a delicate coraplimeut to the inventive power of 

 the average collector. Most collectors can 

 manage to take a rare nest in some way or 

 other and I would be glad to read some descrip- 

 tions (if the methods they employ. 



Two years ago climbing irons were an un- 

 known quantit}' to nie, aud a rope, just sufil- 

 ciently thin to give a bad hand-liold, was the 

 only means in use of going up a tree. A Ked- 

 shouldered Hawk's {Buteo lineatus) nest thirty 

 feet above the grit in a big wliite oak, is an ex- 

 ample. A stone attached to a light line was 

 thrown over the lowest limb (about twenty 

 feet up) and by means of tlie line the rope was 

 drawn over the limb and made fast. The tree 

 was too large to hug, and the rope cut my 

 hands pretty badly, but three eggs was the re- 

 sult. The second laying of same birds was 

 fifty feet up a pine, twenty-five feet to the low- 

 est limb. The same method was employed, but 

 the tree being hugable, the work was not so 

 hard, though quite hard enough for two rather 

 dull eggs. 



The next March, on passing this nest, two 

 projections appeared on the edge of the struc- 



ture — suggesting "Bithu." Thrashing the tree 

 with a long pole didn't have any effect and I 

 about gave it up but tried a load of sixes to sat- 

 isfy myself. At the crack of the gun a pair of 

 mighty wings beat the air for a second, and 

 .Mrs. Owl came crashing down. The rope was 

 fetched and put in place, and one well incu- 

 bated egg brought safely down. 



A Great Crested Flycatcher (Mijiarclnis crini- 

 tns), was watched into a knot-hole in the bare 

 trunk of a fair sized elm, several feet below 

 the lowest limb. The usual method put the 

 rope ovsr the limb, a short stick was tied across 

 the middle of the rope and then drawn up until 

 it hung a foot or two below the hole, the end 

 of the rope being then made fast to a sapling 

 near by. As the hole was too small to admit 

 my hand my brother improvised an egg scoop 

 made imt of a small forked twig, the fork being 

 covered with a piece of his coat lining pinned 

 in place. I went up the rope to the cross stick, 

 which afforded a good seat, and scooped out 

 five eggs. 



This rope business got to be rather tiring, so 

 climbers were procured and are now considered 

 as much a necessity as a gun. When they 

 came to hand nothing would do but to try 

 them at once. I strapped them on and wad- 

 dled out to the largest tree in the yard — a 

 small elm. I took a firm grip of the tree with 

 my hands, shut iny eyes, dug in the spurs and 

 walked right up to the first limbs. Then look- 

 ing down from the dizzy height I found my 

 feet to be at least three feet from the ground. 

 This gave me confidence and when I did get to 

 a sure enougli tree I rose to the occasion. 



Pine Warbler's (Vcndra'ca pinus) nests were 

 found from the end of March. Early in April full 

 sets began to be in order and, with the help of 

 the climbers I did not find much difficulty in 

 reaching the level of the nests in most cases; 

 tew of which, however, could be reached by 

 hand from the tree trunk. A long, slender 

 pointed stick was used for taking those not 

 within reach. The pointed end of the pole was 

 carefully thrust through both sides of the nest, 

 about halt way of its height, and being a well- 

 woven structure, the nest was in every case 

 broken loose from its hold without material in- 

 jury. This loosening process has to be done 

 very carefully, however, otherwise the spring 

 of the pole is liable to break the nest away 

 suddenly and jerk out the contents. 



Out of ten nests taken, but one shared that 

 fate. Sixty feet up a pine swaying in a strong 

 breeze, the nest was at least twelve feet away. 

 Tlie pole was more sijringy than usual, the 



