88 



THE OOLOGIST. 



peckers are quite constant, and I do 

 not recall any variation excepting in 

 the case of the common Flicker, which 

 in time of necessity will resort to any 

 cavity in stump or building. 



The Warbler family is quite constant, 

 and the only variation, and in no sense 

 remarkable, was when a pair of Yellow 

 Warbiers built a nest in a currant bush 

 in a garden far removed from the gen- 

 erally selected quarters, and only one 

 foot from the ground. Neither do the 

 vireos vary in situation to any degree, 

 yet I have found the nests of both the 

 Yellow-throated and Red-eyed at heights 

 of from two to forty-tive feet from the 

 ground. 



A Song Sparrow's nest fifteen feet up, 

 and a Dickcissel's structure over 

 twenty, are instances showing how 

 generally low builders will take arise. 

 A Towhee has been known to build in 

 a bush, and as this case, as well as the 

 one with the Song Sparrow were late 

 dates, it has occurred to me that the 

 birds might have been robbed the first 

 attempt, and so tried more elevated 

 quarters for the second trial. When 

 we consider that more than one third 

 of the birds of America nest ou the 

 ground or just above it, it seems aston- 

 ishing that the birds maintain their pos- 

 ition as well as they do. It is not rare 

 to tind the structures of ground nesters 

 buili in bushes in the latter part of the 

 nesting season, and I cannot but think 

 that these variations are the result of 

 disturbances in the earlier attempts 

 at nesting. 



In a suitable spot for Red-wing black- 

 birds and where there was not an 

 abundance of rushes, the birds built in 

 a lot of cut brush and seemed contented, 

 In new land the Bronzed Grackles 

 adopt hollows in dead trees for nesting 

 situations, and I have found scores of 

 eggs in bare hollows as well as nests 

 built in the hollows, and not a nest 

 built in the regulation manner as 

 usually seen with these birds. A Grass- 



finch's nest interwoven with the tops 

 of some vigorous red clover, and about 

 a foot up was a curiosity to me. 



Another ground-bird, the Spotted 

 Sandpiper, distinguished itself by build- 

 ing on a log. A nest of a Rufi"ed Grouse 

 was buiit upon a stump, while a Mourn- 

 ing Dove chose some roots beneath the 

 margin of a gravelly bank. Doctor 

 H A. Atkins found a nest of a Sand- 

 hill Crane which was built on a support 

 for hay in a marsh. A Mallard's nest 

 containing eleven eggs was built in a 

 hollow of a stub and ten feet up and 

 out in a lake twelve feet from shore. 



There is but slight variation in the 

 situations chosen by the birds of prey, 

 and of all that I have studied the only 

 one which varies to any extent, is the 

 Great Horned owl. This species nests 

 in the hollows of trees about half the 

 time, and again in the old nests of the 

 Crow or Buzzard Hawk. 



Some birds will accept almost any 

 kind of a situation for a nest and the 

 common House Wren will take posses- 

 sion of any cavity that suits its fancy. 

 In that very artistic and correspond- 

 ingly accurate book "With Nature and 

 a Camera," there are several peculiar 

 instances of odd situations of nests, 

 together with most interesting illustra- 

 tions. It appears that the Robin Red- 

 breast of England, though a difterent 

 species from ours is like it in its varied 

 choice of nesting sites. 



All birds protect their eggs and young 

 from cold and wet, and I have observed 

 the mother bird covering her brood 

 during a storm. At these times the 

 wings are spread out and the rain is 

 kept off to the best of a bird's ability. 

 However, it is very often a vain attempt 

 and it must be recorded that Nature's 

 act often proves more disastrous than 

 the combined forces of man, together 

 with the many other untoward eftects. 

 Storms are very destructive to bird life 

 in the months of May, June and July, 

 and especially so iu June, when there 



