24 



FHE OOl.OGlSJ. 



spots of blackish in place of the usual 

 sharp scratchy lines. The eggs meas- 

 ure 1.56x1.03, 1.50x1.06, 1.6-2x1.09, 1.63x 

 1 09. 



Another instance of the Wilson's 

 Snipe breeding here came to my notice 

 about the first of June this year. A 

 young lad showed me two eggs that he 

 had taken early in May from a nest on 

 a hummock in a swampy pasture about 

 one mile north of here. 



C. F. Stone. 



Branchport, N. Y. 



Remarks on "Return of the Birds." 



In perusing the Oologist I cannot 

 help but notice Mr. W. N. Clute's ar- 

 ticle on the "Return of the Birds" (see 

 page 80). 



My note book reads:— Jan. 25, '97, 

 temperature 30 degrees F. A few Amer- 

 ican Crows and English Sparrows, only 

 birds seen. They are always around. 



Up to Jan. 21, 1897, Canada Geese 

 were abundant but as the temperature 

 went down they decreased in numbers. 



Let us turn to 1898. December was 

 a cold month with no snow to amount 

 to anything, but the absence of birds 

 was very marked. 



Januai'y came in with two feet of 

 snow: the temperature was high ex- 

 cept the 30th and 31st, but flocks of 

 from 20 to 100 Slate-colored Juncos are 

 common. Bohemian Waxwings, Tree 

 Sparrows and American Goldfinches 

 are comparatively common. 'I have 

 also observed a flock of about 40 Cedar 

 Waxwings which "'the snow" ought to 

 drive south. Last winter, however, 

 Snowy Owls were more common than 

 this. I have seen but two this winter 

 and had two reported me where last 

 winter they were not at all rare. 



Now if snow drives birds south and 

 not the cold why don't the birds go to 

 Dunn Co. (this state) where I under- 

 stand they have no snow? 



It is a warm day today, but the snow 



is here nevertheless. In our neighbor's 

 yard there is a flock of 25 Tree Spar- 

 I'ows feeding on the seeds of an ^ase 

 tree. As I was walking along the 

 street I saw a flock of 6 Redpolls, "but 

 snow drives the birds south." 



Canada Geese are very abundant on 

 the prairie (Rock) this winter but there 

 is two feet of snow. 



H. H. T. Jackson, 



Milton, Wis. 



Traill's Flycatcher. 



In this locality Traill's Flycatcher is 

 the most common of its family. It is 

 generally found around hedges but is 

 quite often met with in the hazel brush. 

 It may be seen sitting on some dead 

 branch, every now and. then darting 

 after some insect and again resuming 

 its post, while between times it utters 

 its simple song and flirts its tail as if 

 impatient for another insect to turn up. 

 The nest is placed in some upright fork 

 or sodded on a horizontal branch of the 

 hedge or hazel, and is never more than 

 9 or 10 feet from the ground. It pre- 

 fers hedges not more than 15 feet high 

 but in one or two cases I have found 

 them in hedges 25 or so feet high and 

 once in a box elder 25 feet up, and once 

 7 feet up in an apple tree. 



The nest is composed of the inner 

 bark of dead hedge and is lined with 

 fine grass and horse hair. Sometimes 

 a few feathers are stuck in quill end 

 down, with the tips arched inward over 

 the cavity. The nest is very compactly 

 woven. A typical nest measures three 

 inches in depth and Sf inches in diam- 

 eter outside and ]fx2 inside. 



The eggs are three or four in number, 

 of a cream color, spotted with reddish 

 brown spots, chiefly at the larger end. 

 The average size is .70x.53. 



Frank Willard, 

 Galeaburg, 111. 



