THE OSPREY. 



55 



where I lay ; with some doubt I put it as a Turkey 

 Vulture. I judge I watched the birds fly in and out 

 of the tree for an hour until sleep closed my eyes. At 

 daylif^ht I stood beneath the tree, looking for the 

 night-flying birds ; up among the green leaves sat 

 several vultures. The ground beneath indicated its 

 use for many years. All doubt was now put at rest. 

 I have never known this bird to possess any nocturnal 

 habits until I witnessed their night flight in this can- 

 von. — Geo. F. Breningek. /Via nix, .iriionn. 



three addled eggs, late in the season, in a California 

 Towhee's nest. I have never found quail's eggs in 

 nests of any other birds, except those of the domestic 

 turkeys and chickens. — Ernest Adams, San Jose, Ca/. 



GLAUCOUS GULL IN NORTH CAROLLNA. 



Through the attentions of Mr. Abbott H. Thayer, 

 the distinguished artist, I was able to exhibit to the 

 American Ornithologists' Union, at its 15th Congress, 

 a specimen of Larns glaucits which had been taken 

 on Cape Lookout N. C, April 3, 1897. It was a 

 young female, in wholly white plumage, measuring 

 28. 50 inches in length. This is believed to be the 

 first record of the species for North Carolina — Ei,- 

 LiOTT CouES, IVashington, I). C. 



QUAIL'S EGGS IN A MEADOWLARK'S NEST. 

 In the October Osprev Mr. H. J. Giddings asks if 

 any of its readers have observed instances of the 

 Quail laying its eggs in the nests of other species In 

 this connection I can say that on the 13th of May, 

 1895, in \'ermillion County, III., I found in a mead- 

 owlark's nest five of the meadowlark's eggs and four 

 of the quail's. — E. B. Payne, Gycemastle, fnd. 



TYPICAL LARUS ARGEN- 



TATUS IN NEW YORK 



HARBOR. 



Two Herring Gulls which 

 were exhibited by me on behalf 

 of Mr. Thayer, at the same 

 meeting of the Union, are refer- 

 able rather to the above-named 

 species than to my sub-species 

 sniithsonianits. It was suggested 

 by Mr. Wm. Dutcher that such 

 birds might have followed ocean 

 steamships from Europe. — El- 

 liott Coves, ll'ns/iingloii, D C. 



DEATH OF A FISHHAWK. 

 While fishing in the surf at 

 Red-shell Beach, near Coronada, 

 Fla., I was watching an osprey drop into the sea lie- 

 yond the breakers, some 150 yards out. After its 

 several unsuccessful attempts for fish I was watching 

 the bird with considerable interest when, dropping 

 again, it disappeared and did not come to the surface 

 while I watched. I wondered : Did the bird sink its 

 talons too tightly into a large fish, or did it become 

 the prey of a large fish or shark ? — A. M. Nicholson, 

 Orlando, Fla. 



A D()\'E s nest ci.n a wasps nest. 



AN OSPREY'S NEST ON A WINDMILL. 



I once found an osprey's nest built on top of a 

 modern but dilapidated windmill. The fan was gone, 

 and the large nest of sticks and rubbish was placed 

 on the very top of the structure, about 30 feet from 

 the ground. The rudder re- 

 mained, and the wind catching 

 this would swing the nest part 

 way round, and then the wind 

 changing slightly would swing 

 it back again ; the sitting female 

 not seeming to mind this move- 

 ment in the least. The nest oc- 

 cupied last year was in a live 

 buttonwood tree, and which had 

 been used for a number of years. 

 The nest had been protected 

 from invasion by several strands 

 of barbed-wire wound and re 

 wound about the trunk of the 

 tree by the farmer upon whose 

 land the tree is situated Why 

 the birds left this old nest in 

 a well-protected tree to build 

 on top of the windmill I am 

 F. E. Newbuky, Pi-inndence, R. J. 



unable to say. 



UNUSUAL NESTING SITES. 



June 13, while on a trip through the bottom-lands 

 of the Mississippi River, I noticed an old coat hang- 

 ing in a deserted cabin of a wood-cutter, from the 

 pocket of which emanated the scolding notes of the 

 little House Wren. Going closer I found the pocket 

 to contain a nest of the usual materials in which was 

 7 little wrens. 



The photograph of the Mourning Dove's nest was 

 taken by Mr. G. E. Davis of Dubuque, Iowa, during 

 the first week in June. The wasp's nest was about 

 six feet from the ground in an evergreen tree. The 

 dove had simply made her nest on the concave top. 

 — Ernest Marceau, Ditbitqm, Iowa. 



FURTHER NOTES ON QUAIL'S NESTING. 



Mr. H. J. Giddings (page 26) asks if Quails lay in 

 other bird's nests. The usual nesting site of our 

 variety ( Callipepla ca/ifornira ) is in a slight hollow 

 on the ground, yet I have found two sets in California 

 Thrashers nest, one set in California Jays nest, and 



COLORED WOODPECKERS EGGS. 

 I have a set of the Red-headed Woodpecker's eggs 

 taken this year that are very heavily clouded with 

 dull reddish umber-brown. They are positively eggs 

 of the Red-headed Woodpecker, and are of the usual 

 size and shape. No traces of any staining substance 

 were found on the interior of the hole. — Walter G. 

 Savage, Ifillshoro, loiva. 



YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO NOTES. 



June 17, 1893.— To-day I flush a Yellow billed 

 Cuckoo from its nest and collect it. but do not ascer- 

 tain the sex. Nest a slight affair composed of a few 

 twigs, some leaves and four or five catkins, placed 

 about 8 feet from the ground in top of a small poplar 

 tree and partly resting on a grape vine growing over 

 the tree. It held one fresh egg which I took, and I 

 partly tore down the nest in examining it. 



July 4. — Flush a bird from a nest which was rebuilt 

 in identically the same place as the one found June 

 17. It held two eggs which I did not disturb. 



July 8. — Looked at the nest and found that the 2 

 eggs it contained on the 4th had hatched, and in the 

 nest with the 2 young birds was a fresh egg. thus 

 completing the complement of 4. 



I never saw but a single bird at the nest, and it 

 would be interesting to know which bird I killed. If 

 the male, did the female rebuild the nest, and after 

 laying the remaining 3 eggs incubate them alone, or 

 did she lay aside her widow's weeds and take unto 

 herself a new mate ?— Wm. H. Yisher, Baltimore, Md. 



