THE OOLOGIST. 



nests built even ten rods from the highway. 

 Their nests are large and easily seen, as 

 the osage does not put forth its leaves till 

 late. The female hatches two broods a 

 year. The nest is an inartistic structure, 

 built of various materials ; one wliich I 

 have before me, is built of grass, weed- 

 stalks, and fine twigs, with sheep's wool 

 mixed in, and lined with fine grass and 

 wool. Another has the outside of grass, 

 and quite large twigs of the osage, togeth- 

 er with wool, paper, and feathers, while the 

 inside is lined with grass, cows' hair, horse 

 hair, wool, and the long tail feathers of the 

 common fowl. 



The eggs are from five to seven in num- 

 ber, and vary somewhat in size. The 

 ground color is dull white ; the markings 

 are of a light brownish color, overlaying 

 some of a pale lilac. Some specimens are 

 very sparsely spotted, while othei'S are al- 

 most completely covered. In some speci- 

 mens the markings congregate at the larger 

 end, and form a wreath, but generally they 

 are distributed quite evenly. The eggs of 

 this species and C. horealis are so exactly 

 tilike as not to be distinguished with cer- 

 tainty. 



Oological Notes for March. 



In one of the copies of The Oolo(;ist 

 which you sent me I saw an article relating 

 to the Chipping Sparrows building their 

 nests upon tiie ground. While out collect- 

 ing two years ago, I found a Chipping Spar- 

 row's nest on the ground at the foot of a 

 tall weed. The eggs and nest were like all 

 others of this species that I have ever seen, 

 also the bird, though it was very wild and 

 flew about when I went near the nest. 



D. J. Stillman. 



I DO not know Avhether it is uncommon 

 or not for the Crow Blackbird to use the 

 nest of another bird, but I have seen an in- 

 stance of it. Several years ago a pair of 

 Robins built their nest under the eaves of 

 our house, and on top of the tin spout where 

 it runs for a short distance almost horizoa- 



tally between two brackets. The Robins 

 had used this nest with slight repairs every 

 year since, but in the summer of 1876 a 

 pair of Crow Blackbirds took possession of 

 the nest and raised a brood there. 



W. T. Warrick. 

 The collecting season has already opened 

 in the vicinity of Rutherford (N. J.), in- 

 asmuch as on the 22 of March I discovered 

 the nest of a Broad-winged Hawk situated 

 in a small chestnut tree about fifty feet from 

 the ground, containing two eggs, and on 

 March 26 I discovered a nest of the Red- 

 tailed Hawk containing tliree eggs, situated 

 in a bass-wood tree about seventy-five feet 

 from the ground. On March 30 found a 

 nest of the Great Horned Owl in a pine 

 tree about thirty feet from the ground, con- 

 taining two young four days old. 



J. A. FULLERTON. 



[The Broad-winged, Red-shouldered and 

 Red-tailed Hawks seldom have complete 

 sets of eggs before the 15 or 25 of April in 

 New York ; in our correspondent's region , 

 the birds have nested early. — Ed.] 



Broad -vv^iNGED Hawks beginning to 

 nest, March 20 ; House Sparrow, M'ch 1 ; 

 Blue Birds looking about for places to nest, 

 M'ch 23. D. D. Stone. 



Two Robins commenced to build their 



nests here (Evanston, 111.) on March 31st, 



and abandoned them as soon as completed. 



W. H. Ballou. 



A NUMBER of interesting articles wo have 

 been obli}j;ed to reserve for our April num- 

 j ber, among which are two or three papers 

 of great importance to oologists. 



We expect to publish, in the course of 

 the summer and fall, an exhaustive paper 

 on the nests and eggs of the North Ameri- 

 can Ardeidce, to be illustrated by an engrav- 

 ing of the typical egg of every known spe- 

 cies. This feature of our journal will make 

 it invaluable to every young student of or- 

 nithology. 



