128 



THE OOLOGIST. 



reeds, also set vf Oriule's eggs. This spe- 

 cies has beeu far less eoniiiioii this season 

 than usual. 



Juue (>. Swamp Sparrow, live highly in- 

 cub. eggs,uest iu brauch of reeds on edge of 

 marsh. Iu waste marshy lands it is quite 

 common. 



Juue 12. Scarlet Tauager, while walkiug 

 thronigh a thick piece of woods to-day I 

 foimd a nest of this bird situated on the 

 fork of a small dogwood tree, it contained 

 one egg and oue young bird. 



^Vilsou's Thrush, nest comjjosed of grass, 

 twigs, and leaves, lined with line vegetable 

 fibers, placed in a small bush about two feet 

 up and contained three eggs. The nest is 

 almost always placed in a hollow on the 

 ground. 



Spotted Saudjjiper, four fresh eggs, nest a 

 mere hollow iu the ground lined with grass. 



Ulue Jay, nest fifty feet u]^ in hickory, 

 made of usual material. Two of the three 

 eggs found iu it were dark olive- brown and 

 unspotted. 



Chimuey Swift, set of four eggs slightly 

 incub., nest in chimney of uninhabited log 

 caViin. This pair have built their nest iu 

 this chimney for three successive seasons, 

 notwithstanding that I have taken the eggs 

 each season and several times caught and 

 cxaiuiued the female. 



June 1."). Jack is shy of strangers and 

 screams iu a most ear-piercing manner when 

 approached by them. 



June 16. Catbird, nest placed iu in some 

 thick bushes. The C itbird and Brown 

 Tarasher are called mocking birds here. 



June 20, Three incub. eggs of the Thrash- 

 er, nest in cluster of black berry bushes. 

 Not very common. 



June 21. Cedar Waxwing, five eggs from 

 nest in orchard, also set of Traill's Fly 

 uatcher's, three Yellow-billed Cuckoo's eggs, 

 nest of former in a patch of secon<l growth 

 m iple, that of the latter on a platform of 

 sticks in an elder tree. Commoner than the 

 Black-billed species. 



Julj' 1. Jack is very voracious and if 

 permitted will gorge himself until it seems 

 85 though he would burst, and at such times 



seems inspired with the very soul of laziness 

 sitting on his jierch for hours. 



July 4. From the extremity of a hole iu 

 in a saul b luk, early ouefoiirth of a mile 

 from water, I took five Bank Swallows eggs. 



July G. Grass Finch, the nest was iu a 

 strip of pasture laud, built of small twigs 

 and grasses, lined with horse-hair. It con- 

 tained four eggs. 



July 7. Took a set of Black-billed Cuc- 

 koo's eggs from a nest in an apple tree. 

 The Cuckoo seldofn lays more than four 

 eggs here. 



July 24. Three eggs of Chipping Spar- 

 row. Few (-four native birds are belter 

 known than this sober plumaged little spar- 

 row, also six fresh eggs of Goldfinch, nest in 

 apple tree. I no ticed large Hocks last win - 

 ter in the swamps and among the weeds in 

 the fields. 



July 2G. Oue of the handsomest and 

 neatest nests found here is that of the Gokl- 

 tiuch, and to-day I fonnd one with four 

 fresh eggs. It was in the same orchard as 

 the one taken on the 24th. 



August 8. Indigo Bunting, six fresh eggs, 

 nest iu upright fork of small bush, just 

 where the main stem separated. 



August 9. Wood Pewee, three slightly 

 incub. eggs, nest on horizontal limb of an 

 apple tree. This speraes is much more rare 

 than Traill's Flycatcher and the nest is easi- 

 ly distinguished from that of the latter be- 

 ing a fiat, compact structure, with thick 

 sides, but thin flooring, in fact so thin that 

 the eggs can often be seen from beneath. It 

 is fastened to a horizontal branch and is 

 covered outside with lichens. It selects a 

 dead limb near the nest and attaches itself 

 to the same spot for many siTccessive days. 



August 12. Ever since Jim's encounter 

 with Jack he has shown a marked resj^ect 

 for the latteis sharp beak and stroug t.alons. 



August IG. "While preparing Jack's din- 

 ner to-day, with his Hawkship perched up- 

 on my shoulder, I tossed a piece of meat in- 

 to the air. He flew aftei it in an instant 

 and caught it before it reached the ground. 



Sept. H. I sat in the yaid reading, when 

 I was greeted with a caw, and down carne 



