THE OOLOGIST. 



27 



Nesting of the Canada Jay. 



I HAVE seen an article in your valuable 

 paper, in i-ef'erence to the breeding of the 

 Canada Jay, in paper for A{)ril, '78. It 

 breeds in winter, February and March, at 

 tirst appearance of spring thaw ; in inter- 

 ior of forest ; nests in pine or spruce, about 

 two fathoms* from ground ; nest of small 

 branches and moss ; young, three or five ; 

 have seen nests with young and one addled 

 egg, light gray, brown spots. 

 Si John, N. B. S. B. Wily. 



Oological Notes for June. 



Egbert Bagg, Jr., discovered a nest 

 and three eggs of Lincoln's Finch {3Iclos- 

 jnza Lincolni) in Northern New York, re- 

 cently. The discovery is important, inas- 

 much as it is probably the first authentic 

 record of its nesting in tiiis State. 



While out collecting two and a half 

 miles from Colony, Kas., about the middle 

 of -June, I found the nest of a Cliewink 

 [Pipilo erythrophthalmus) . It was built 

 two feet from the ground on a gooseberry 

 bush. The nest contained four eggs. Nev- 

 er having found or heard of a Chevvink's 

 nest built above the ground, I shot the old 

 bird and satisfactorily identified her as the 

 above species. It had been raining nearly 

 every day for several weeks, and the ground 

 was probably too wet to build upon. 



John Holzapfel. 

 Is it uncommon for young Robins to nest 

 the same season they were hatched? An 

 early brood of Robins was raised on a low 

 limb of a Balm of Gilead tree in a neighbor's 

 garden, and I think it was one of this brood 

 that I saw on the 3rd of June, carrying ma- 

 terials to a nearly finished nest in the tip- 

 top of the tree ; at any rate, it was a young 

 one that I saw building, for its flight was 

 very weak, and its breast was of the pecu- 

 liar yellow color that the young of this spe- 

 cies have, at a certain stage of their growth. 

 *About twelve feet. 



I saw it go to the nest several times Avith 

 bits of grass in its bill, and it invariably 

 flew from one limb to another, a little high- 

 er up, continuing these short flights till it 

 reached the nest. Other members of the 

 family said that they saw an old one also 

 working at the nest, and that it went from 

 the ground to the nest in one flight. I 

 would have examined the nest, but it was 



inaccessible I obtained twenty-five 



Flicker eggs, the aggregate of four sets, 

 from one cavity in a lialf dead tree this sea- 

 son. Was it an unusual haul? 



W. T. Warrick. 



[Birds will occasionally deposit eggs to 

 a large number, if the set is continually 

 broken up. -Ed.] 



Up to June 24, observations on the pro- 

 lificness of the House Sparrow failed to 

 prove that, so far, th.ey have passed the 

 nesting season. At that date, a pair were 

 seen vigorously at work carrying materials 

 into a box erected on the premises. It re- 

 mains now whether the nest will be finish- 

 ed, and the usual routine of oviposition and 

 incubation take place ; in which event, it 

 will be safe to put this down as the third 

 litter, since this pair built the first nest ear- 

 ly in IMarch. 



Every oologist should subscribe for this 

 journal and keep himself thoroughly posted 

 on all matters relating to the study of birds' 

 eggs. Terms — 75 cents per year, with a 

 beautiful colored plate ef eggs. Do not de- 

 lay, as the number of plates is limited. 



Large-billed Water Thrush. — The 

 nest of this species I discovered in a marsh 

 undor some low bushes. It was situated 

 in a tuft of sword grass one foot from the 

 ground. The nest is somewhat enlongated, 

 composed of sword grass principally, and 

 lined with fine grass and hairs. It was six 

 inches long, and contained four eggs of the 

 bird and two Cow Bird's eggs. The eggs 

 were so tender that I broke them all but 

 one, and have not dared to measure this 

 one. I judge it to be about .65 by 50 

 inch. W. H. Ballou. 



