66 



THE OOLOGIST 



Seasonable Suggestions. — The season 

 for birds' eggs being at hand, perhaps a few 

 suggestions relating to the collecting and 

 preparing of specimens may not come amiss. 



First — It should be remembered that eggs 

 blown in the field will withstand much more 

 jarriug and shaking than unblown ones ; 

 hence, mauy of the best collectors prefer to 

 prepare them as soon as obtained. 



Second — Make ample notes concerning 

 the surroundings of a nest, and do it before 

 leaving the locality. 



Third — If it is necessary to climb decay- 

 ed trees, take time for it, and under no cir- 

 cumstances become so flurried as to step 

 upon a limb before testing it. 



Fourth — Do not, in momentary excite- 

 ment concerning an im})ortant find, pack 

 the eggs hastily in your box, trusting to care 

 in their con\'eyance ; for the box may fall 

 or be forcibly shaken when least expected. 



P^ifth — If you are disappointed after hav- 

 ing climbed for eggs, do not revenjiefuUy 

 destroy the nest ; it may, if a new one, re- 

 pay the trouble of a later visit. 



Sixth — Make but one hole in the egg, 

 and remove every particle of the contents, 

 for moths and divers other pests will take 

 advantage of half blown specimens and de- 

 stroy them. 



Nesting of the Sharp-tailed Finch 

 (Ammodromus caudacutus). 



BY G. S. SMITH. 



T^lIIS species is rarely seen north of Mass- 

 achusetts. In that state it is not un- 

 common, though it is found only as a strag- 

 gler in the more northern sections. The 

 Sharp-tailed Finch is never found over a 

 mile or two from salt-water : thus many of 

 its most notable habits, here related, may 

 be of interest to the inland readers of The 



OOLOGIST. 



This bird selects the salt marshes and 

 meadows adjacent to our sea-coast, where 

 it remains during its stay. Here it may 



be flushed from the rank grass, or it will 

 run before you, dodging round any little 

 hummocks rising above the ground, thus 

 managing to keep pretty well concealed ; 

 and here it is seen alonji the margins of 

 pools, gleaning its sustenance from the mi- 

 nute crnatacece which inhabit such places. 



For their breeding place these birds pre- 

 fer meadows where the grass is short and 

 not so abundant. About the last of April 

 each bird selects its consort, when the new- 

 ly made pair proceed to select a suitable sit- 

 uation ibr a home. This is generally un- 

 der the shelter of an over hanging lump of 

 peat, wliere the little creatures pat with in- 

 finite labor a considerable depression in the 

 thick grass-roots. In this hollow the nest 

 is placed, composed entirely of dried mead- 

 ow grass, and not infrequently intermixed 

 with fine sea-weeds. It must needs be very 

 thick and warm to protect the young from 

 the dampness of the ground. After the 

 nest is completed, the birds form a canopy 

 over it, by bending the neighboring grass- 

 blades, leaving only a small orifice for en- 

 trance and exit. 



Tlie collector may be traversing a moor 

 when he will be surprised by a little bird 

 jumping from the ground at his feet, and 

 fluttering before him, feigning all the tor- 

 tures of a broken wing. The experienced 

 oologist will immediately recognize his 

 proximity to a nest. His search will be 

 long and tedious, but if it is about the first 

 of June, his labors will be rewarded by a 

 complement of from four to six eggs, near- 

 ly spherical in shape, and covered over their 

 entire surface by contiguous dots and blotch- 

 es of chocolate-brown, imder which may 

 be distinguished a ground color of light 

 green. Proceeding forward, the above gy- 

 rations will be re])eated by another bird, 

 but in all probability, instead of flying up 

 dii'ectly from the nest, your approach has 

 been discovered, and it will jump up ten feet 

 away ; this may be considerably out of the 

 direct line of your approach, the bird desir- 

 ing to conceal the situation of its nest, and 

 you must make a large circuit ere the eggs 

 are found. 



