THE OOLOGIST. 



Vol. 4, No. 3-4. ALBION, N. Y., JUNE-SEPT., 1887. 



Bl-MONTHLY . 



2SC. Per Yea r. 



A Day's Tour in the Woods at Fort 

 Washington, Pa. 



On May 28, 1887, I left the station with 

 my chum for a day in the woods. Walk- 

 ing along a road about a quarter of a mile 

 from the station we came to a Kingbird's 

 nest, a Vireo's nest, and a Baltimore Oriole's 

 nest, all in a buttonwood tree, but could 

 not get them. A little farther on we came 

 to another Vireo's nest which was so high 

 that neither of us would climb up, so we 

 left the nest saying, we could get it on the 

 return trip, (I will merely ?ay we never got 

 it) for when we returned each of us was 

 too tired to climb up. Walking on we 

 came to a lime quarry in which we found 

 a bank swallows nest with live eggs in it. 

 Incubation was so advanced it made them 

 difficult to blow. Then we started for a 

 place called Militia Hill; on the way there 

 we found a Catbird's nest with four eggs, 

 and a Wood Thrush's nest with four eggs, 

 but did not disturb either. We found an 

 Owl's with nothing in it soon after we 

 entered the woods. We had not proceeded 

 far before we saw lots of birds, but could 

 not find their nests. At last we found a 

 Red-eyed Vireo's nest with four fresh eggs 

 in it; the nest was about three feet from 

 the ground and as we approached it the 

 bird did not show the least fear, and did 

 not fly oft" till we were so near we could 

 have easily touched lier; we looked at her 

 eyes and could distinctly 3ee the red in 

 them. Pushing deeper in the woods we 

 came to a spot where the trees were few 

 and some bushes were growing. In the 

 bushes we found a Indigo Bunting's nest 

 with one egg in it, each of us wanted it, 

 but we knew where to get more and 

 decided to leave the one in the nest alone. 

 We left the woods and came out on a road 

 which we walked along till we came to a 

 tree in wliich a pair of Kingbirds were 



making a big fuss, we looked all aroimd 

 the tree but could find nothing but a 

 Robin's nest, which of course, we did not 

 take. We walked along till we came to a 

 house and asked where we were, but to 

 our surprise they told us we were on the 

 wrong side of the woods and a long ways 

 from the station. We retraced our steps 

 along the road in silence, for we were both 

 tired, and the sky overhead was dark, and 

 it looked as if we were going to get a 

 drenching, but it passed over without rain- 

 ing, and when the sun came out we both 

 felt better. We walked as directed and 

 came out all right. We took dinner with 

 a friend of ours who lived there. After 

 dinner we felt all right and started across 

 the fields to a woods where we found a 

 Flicker's nest with one egg, which we left. 

 Passing through the woods we started 

 across a field, when I came within one-half 

 a foot of putting my foot on a Towhee 

 Bunting's nest, with three eggs in and one 

 Cowbird's egg also. I would not have 

 found the nest had not the old bird flew 

 off, as it was, it took us quite a while to 

 find it, as we did not see where she flew 

 from. We crossed the field and came to a 

 road which we walked along. We had not 

 gone far when I looked up in a tree, when 

 lo! to our surprise, I saw not ten feet from 

 the ground a Summer Redbird's nest with 

 three eggs in, and all were fresh. You had 

 better believe we were glad as these were 

 the first of this kind we had ever found. 

 We walked on farther, but while we were 

 walking we noticed a Kingfisher acting- 

 very funny, farther on we came to a hole 

 in a bank which we supposed washer nest, 

 we had no shovels or any implements to 

 dig with, so we got a few sharp-pointed 

 sticks and began to dig. After we dug 

 about a foot my chum said he was going 

 to see how far back it ran, and got a long 

 stick and stuck it in, but to our dismay it 



