26 



THE OSPREY. 



General Notes. 



A QUAIL'S EGG IN A TOWHEE'S NEST. 



On May 20. 1897, my little son informed me that 

 he had found a Towhee's nest with four eggs and one 

 large white egg. On the 22d I went with him to see 

 the nest, thinking perhaps the white egg was an albino 

 of the Cowbird. Upon reaching the nest we found 

 that the Towhee had just hatched her own eggs, so 

 the nest contained four young birds and one egg of 

 the (,)uail, — for such the white one was. Nest was 

 built in a slight depression on the side of a sloping 

 bank, among what had once been a pile of brush, but 

 at present consists of some of the soundest sticks. 

 Wishing to watch de%'elopments I left the nest un- 

 disturbed but visited it occasionally always seeing 

 the parent bird. 



On May 31 the young Towhees left the nest, the 

 Quail egg still remaining. I took it, and found it to 

 be just on the point of hatching, as it contained a 

 fully-developed chick, and this served as an additional 

 means of identification. 



Before the finding of the nest, I had upon several 

 occasions seen a pair of Quail close to the place 

 where the nest was found. I would like to ask if any 

 of the readers of The Osprey have met with instances 

 of the Quail laying in other bird's nests, as this one 

 had evidently done ? — H. J. Giddings, Sn/nila, lo^ca _ 



[A Quail laying eggs in a domestic turkey's nest 

 once came to my notice. The turkey in question had 

 ' stolen ' its nest under an osage orange hedge in an 

 unfrequented part of a farm in Warren County, 111. 

 When I saw the nest it contained 4 eggs of the Bob- 

 white and several turkey's eggs. The Bob-white's 

 eggs were ultimately broken, probably by the turkey 

 and perhaps accidentally. — Ed.] 



A COLONY OF OSPREYS. 



I have been much interested in your notes on the 

 nesting of the Osprey ; and will say that one of the 

 greatest nesting places I know of is on the shore of 

 Great Lake, one of a group of five lakes which occupy 

 the top of a pocoson in Jones County, some fifteen 

 miles from Newbern. I have seen an aggregation of 

 twenty nests within a space of a few rods square, oc- 

 cupying the tops of stunted trees and broken trunks 

 some twelve feet above water, several often in one 

 tree. — Charles Hallock, Si. Paul, Minn. 



REGARDING THE BRUNNICH'S MURRE. 



I note that Mr. E. I. Haines will make the first an- 

 nouncement to the scientific world of the Brunnich's 

 Murre nesting in the United States. I will say that 

 over 50 years ago my father obtained the egg and par- 

 ent of the Brunnich Murre at either one of the Duck 

 Islands or Marshall's Island in Penobscot Bay. I 

 think I have the identical egg in my collection, but 

 am unable to look it up at present. Although Mr. 

 Haines may make the first announcement to ornithol- 

 ogists the fact has been known here since the state 

 was settled. — Manly Hardy, Bi-fioei-, Mi\ 



FROM EGG ISLAND. 



I am just back from my trip to Egg Island, where 

 I found 'millions' of rare and interesting birds nest- 

 ing. All my early enthusiasm came back to me as I 

 secured new and curious specimens from the rocks 

 and from the myriads of birds flying overhead. I 

 also secured some photographs and notes that I will 



send The Osprey later. The eggs of the Puffins and 

 Gulls were excellent eating, though it seems 'high' 

 living to eat eggs of the Glacious-winged Gull ; but 

 they were plentiful and easily obtained. 



My hands were pretty badly cut up in securing 

 Puffins and Auks from their burrows, and I soon 

 learned to respect their powerful beaks. 



I crossed sixty miles of open Pacific Ocean in a 

 frail Indian canoe, and I confess that I breathed 

 easier when once again on Houcan Island, where I 

 was welcomed as one returned from the dead. — Geo. 

 G. Cantwell, Jitiiean, Alaskcj {Jiilv 1, iSqj). 



Galitoi^nia Deoartiiient. 



EDITED BY DONALD A. COHEN, ALAMEDA, CAL. 



SOME LATE NESTING RECORDS. 



California Partridge: July 4, female flushed from 

 10 fresh eggs; July 15, female flushed from 15 eggs, 

 incubation slight. These two cases are rather unusual 

 for July. 



Western Flycatcher; July 15, 3 eggs, incubation 2 

 days. Eggs not noted before after June. 



California Towhee : July 26, 3 eggs highly incubat- 

 ed ; same date, 3 eggs almost fresh. The nests but 

 a few yards apart, in apple trees. First eggs noted 

 in July. 



Western Chipping Sparrow : July 25, two nests 

 containing half-incubated eggs. First eggs noted in 

 July. 



All of these nests were found accidentally, and it is 

 inferred that the rains in June (during the dry sea- 

 son,) prolonged nidification unusually late. 



SUMMER NEWS FROM STANFORD. 



Messrs. A. W. Greeley and R. E Snodgrass and 

 several other students accompanied President Jor- 

 don to Alaska on the Seal Commission, to collect for 

 the Zoological Department of the University. 



Dr. C. H. Gilbert collected for the United States 

 Fish Commission along the coast of Northern Cali- 

 fornia. Messrs. A. G. Maddren, J. O. Snyder and 

 G. B. Culver accompanied him. 



Prof. Thoburn and a party of professors organized 

 an expedition to Guadalupe Island to carry on gov- 

 ernment investigations on the remnants of the 

 Ciuadalupe fur seal herd, and to collect mammals, 

 birds and reptiles. 



Mr. Edmund Weller collected birds and reptiles 

 in the Mohave Desert early in the summer, and sent 

 the collection to the University laboratory. He later 

 went into the San Bernardino Mountains. 



Mr. Robt. McLain was the only man in the 

 Zoological Department who remained at the Univer- 

 sity all summer. He received and cared for the 

 different collections as they came in. 



Messrs. Ralph Arnold and Dane Coolidge have 

 been in Southern California. Mr. A. L. Bolton was 

 employed near Monterey by Prof. Loomis in the 

 early part of the summer. Mr. P. K. Oilman left 

 about the middle of July for a summer's collecting in 

 Sierra Valley. 



Mr. H. B. Kaeding and the California editor en- 

 joyed a day's outing on the salt marsh in quest of 

 'skins, 'and found birds very scarce and wild. Three 

 sandpipers were obtained, and several flocks seen. A 

 few Samuels' Song Sparrows, 2 juvenile Bryant's 

 Marsh Sparrows, a juvenile California Shrike, and a 



