THE OOLOGIST. 



153 



Our rau!)) Vi'a.s in an <>\<\ caliiii wlicrc^' 

 an iinsci-upulinis "bachelor" liNcd, wlio, 

 il seems, rdild nnt tell a liat l.yinjf on 

 llic ll()i)i% with a handkereliief spread 

 over it, (for in this were tlie i)recioiis 

 NutJiateh r'^i^s) irom liis Sunday sjioes 

 and soeks; so avIkmi 1m' went to get 

 ready for a daiiec that night, the hat 

 with the handkei-ehief were? gral)])ed np 

 lo ])iil on liis unworthy feet, when dip, 

 dip, di|), went every egg on the iloor. 

 Now this v.'as the bitter. 



T. G. PiCAKSON, 



Archer, Fhi. 



Broad-Wing'ecl Hawk. Black-capped 

 Chickadee. 



April L'Oth. at Bradford, Mass.. I 

 foui'.d a set of two eggs of tjie Broad- 

 ^Viilg llavik, inculcation just begun. 

 The nest was situated in an oak tree 

 40 feet fi'oni the ground, composed of 

 .sticks and lined with grass. The female 

 left the nest wlien I got within 30 feet 

 of it; so I luid a good chance to identify 

 liei'. The measurements of tlie eggs 

 were 2.10x1.70 and 2.12x1.70. 



Ai)ril 20, at Bradford, Ma.s.s., I found 

 a nice hole excavated in a dead ]>opular 

 stub about 7 feet from the ground. The 

 tree was in a second growth of hard 

 wood and near a clearing. Went to it 

 again Ma,y oth and found a nice nest in- 

 side made of green moss and lined with 

 raljbil haii'. Thought it was about com- 

 ])le(ed but could !i<)t See any bird ai'ound . 

 1 lliought I \vould give them tiriie to 

 eomplele the set, so I diil not go to it 

 again until May loth. Then I went to 

 it very carefully so as to see the bird 

 an(^ lind out what I had found. I did 

 not see anything that looked like a bird, 

 so I i)ouiide(l on the tree right side of 

 tile nest, and no biixl. So I got up to 

 it an<! looked in but could not see any- 

 thing. In going up to the nest May oth 

 I took h.old of a lind) near tlu' nest to 

 helj) me get to it, aiul it broke oil and 

 exposed the side of the nest, so I went 



to work and (ait a piece of bark frcnu 

 the same tree, and made some pins of 

 hard wood, and nailed it over the bri-ak 

 so as to shut out the light and rain. 

 But as I was taking oft' the bark I had 

 nailed on, a little bii'd went out of the 

 hole like a Hash of light, and lighted on 

 a tree about 20 feet from me, and I saw 

 it was what I had thought fri)m the first 

 it would be, a Black-eapped Chickadee, 

 r cut a little more away from the side 

 hide and soon had a line set of eight 

 eggs packed in my box. I put the Iiark 

 back over the hole, but hardly think 

 the}' v.'ill use it again. If they do, 1 

 will let you know later on. 



V. S. B. 

 Haverhill. Mass. 



Bluebirds Laying- Albino Eggs. 



In reply to W. J. S.'s query in Vol. 5, 

 No. 12 of the OoLoGiST regarding the 

 identificati(jn of my Albino eggs of the 

 Bluebird, would say they were identi- 

 li''d but no peculiarities were observed 

 and think there were none I am sure 

 they were only the ccniimon Bluebird 

 f(n- after I collected this set of Albinos I 

 watched the vicinity for about two 

 w et'ks, when to my surprise, on going 

 to the same tree which I collected the 

 Albint) from, I found they had carried a 

 little more line grass and relined the 

 nest. I made it my business to attend 

 the site daily for three or four da^s 

 when to my disappointnient 1 found the 

 nest to contain one pale blue egg. 

 This set of four for four was all she 

 laid, was of a wvy pale light l)lue, in 

 fact they were almrtst as light again as 

 the usual run of the eggs are. They 

 wei-e also blunt oi- more rounded at the 

 small end than is generally found. 1 

 tind the average egg of the SitiUa sta/i.-i 

 is pointed like all the snuill eggs' but 

 my set of live All)inos and this set of 

 four were i-ounded. 1 will close hoping 

 the abo\-e will interest W. J. S', if not 

 others. C. B. CooK. 



Odin, Ills. 



