THE OOLOGIST. 



149 



sii'.-h noU's :is I tliink iiuiy In- of iutt'vc.st 

 from tiiiir Id tiriU'. Let ii> see- moi'f 

 orij^iual artirlc- in llic Uulogist. 

 C. S. M., 

 Bonifacio, Florida. 



The Shore Lark in Canada. 



On till' 20th of this niontli, Mai-cli, I 

 fonnd a ne.st of the shore lark, which I 

 think ninst lie tlie first of the season for 

 liiis latitnde. The nest contained 3 

 flesh e<:;gs. None of the early sets I 

 ever found of this species ever nimiher- 

 ed moi'e than 4 eggs, and once only 2, 

 which were the first I had lonnd of this 

 l)ird. The largest set I have taken is 

 I'ggs. It seems to me that the Sliore 

 Lark begins nesting in March as soon 

 as bare ground appears and exposes the 

 dead grass with Avhich they make their 

 \ery ])lain nest, which so anuch resem- 

 i)les the surrounding earth that to find 

 it without Hushing tlie bird or watching 

 her to lier nest i.s a pure accident. 



Very often in this locality we have a 

 heavy s)iow fall late in March, or early 

 in April, Avhich nmst destroy" nearly all 

 the early broods, but some certainly es- 

 cape for I have seen large young of this 

 .--pecies folhnving their parents in April 

 while sonii; snow still lingered in the 

 fence corners. 



I well rememl)er the iirst nest of this 

 species which I found. It was placed oil 

 the l)ottora of a large gravel i)it. I had 

 seen a Shore Lark liy silently out of this 

 ])it whenever I came near to it, and I 

 s -arched carefully for a nest, but owing 

 to the size of the pit, perhaps i acre, or 

 most likel}" the sameness in a])pearance 

 of the ne<t and gravel, I failed to find 

 it until the morning of April 3d, 1870. 

 On till ])revious night there had fallen 

 about 3 inches of snow, and I thought 

 "now's my chance to find that nest." 

 I approached the pit carefally and look- 

 ed over the bank and saw the bird rise 

 leaving a .small bare spot on the ground 

 where she sat. I ran down in glee to 

 the nest, and found that it contained "2 



eggs whicli proA ( d to 1 e rotten. Lur- 

 ing the next night snow fell tothede])th 

 of 13 inches. Now can you imagine 

 such a thing as birds hatching eggs be- 

 neath a foot of snow V During the ni'xt 

 dixy or two many shore larks came to 

 the Ijarnjard and lingered- about until 

 the snow melted. For scAeral seasons, 

 late in I\Iaich when th.e weather was 

 veiy cold and snow deep, I have shot a 

 few Shore Lark and found that the fe- 

 males invari;d)ly had bare and wrinkled 

 bellies which proved that they had been 

 endeavoring to hatch their joung, but 

 had been overlal-ceii by adverse weather. 

 John A. Mokuen, 

 Hjde Park, C'anatla 



The Belted King-fisher. 



The Li'lled Kingfisher is found 

 throughout North America, its color is 

 blue aliove and the lower parts white, 

 the length is aljout thirteen inches and 

 the extent of the wings tvrenty-two. 

 Its flight is rapid and it often suddenly 

 stops, like a Sparrow-hawk, and hovers 

 over llie water, dashing headlong after 

 its prey which it carries to the nearest 

 stump or tree and swallows instantly. 

 It foUov.s the coui'se of rivers, even to 

 their source and its presence near a 

 .stream is good evidence that lish are 

 abundant. 



Thi' nests are nuide in holes dug to 

 the depth, of from four to six feet in a 

 bank, the entrance l)eing ju>t large 

 enough to, admit the bird, an.l !he end 

 rounded like an oven. 



The eggs are generallj* six and pure 

 white. Incubation lasts about 16 days 

 being performed by both parents. 



May 19, 1888, I took five eggs of this 

 bird from a hole in a high river bank. 

 This nest was not more than 2 feet 

 from a nest that I dug out in 1887. 



May 28th, I dug out anotiun- nest con- 

 taining one egg. This prol)ably coni- 

 jdetes the set found on the lOth. 



Edwakd L. Kittkeuge, 

 Milford, Nt-w Hampshire. 



