28 



THE OO LOG I ST. 



Black and White Creeper. 



There seems to be a difference of opinion 

 in regard to the nesting habits of this bird. 

 Audubon states that it nests in holes in 

 ti'ees ; but the universal opinion seems to 

 be that it nests on the ground. The eggs 

 are seldom found in this vicinity, (Queens 

 county, N. Y.,) although the bird is quite 

 common here. 



A nest fovind a few years ago, containing 

 three highly incubated eggs, was on the 

 ground, at the base of a tree. 



One found July 18, 1882, containing 

 eight eggs was in a hole in a white birch 

 tree. The hole contained an inner nest of 

 soft stufis. 



In May, 1885, I saw one of these birds 

 excavating a hole in a dead cherry tree. 

 I watched it at work for over a week, when 

 a boy caught it and brought it to me. I 

 am sure of identity. Will some of our 

 kind bird friends state their experience in 

 regard to this bird? L. P. B. 



Queens Co., IST. Y. 



Black-billed Cuckoo Depositing Eggs 

 in a Yellow-billed Cuckoo's Nest. 



On the afternoon of July 31, 1885, (about 

 6 p. M.) I found a Cuckoo's nest containing 

 four eggs of a uniform size and color. The 

 nest was placed in an apple tree and the 

 bird frightened off was a Yellow-billed. 

 Thf eggs appearing to be newly laid I left 

 the nest, returning to it the next afternoon 

 (Ang. 1), when, to my surprise, the nest 

 contained six eggs, being cleai'ly an increase 

 of two eggs in one day. As it is not prob- 

 able that the bird would deposit an egg- 

 after six o'clock of the evening of July 31, 

 moreover one of the eggs was smaller, a 

 darker green color and smoother shelled 

 than the others, and seemed to be an egg 

 of the Black-billed Cuckoo. 



It is well known that the Cuckoo some- 

 times deposits its eggs in the nests of such 

 birds as the Robin, Cat-bird and Wood 

 Thrush, but I never heard of one Cuckoo 

 using the nest of another. 



Later in the season I found another 

 Cuckoo's nest, (I could not determine the 



species for want of time) which contained 

 six eggs, three of which were larger and 

 lighter green colored than the others, thus 

 dividing the contents into two sets each, of 

 which were uniform in size, color, etc., 

 and one of which appeared to belong to a 

 Yellow-billed and the other to a Black- 

 billed Cuckoo. To be sure the eggs of the 

 two species are often indistinguishable and 

 the eggs of the same species often vary in 

 size from the same bird, so that in the latter 

 case the eggs might possibly all have been 

 from the same parent, though not, prob- 

 ably, as the unusually large number of 

 eggs and their distinct division into two sets 

 seem to point to the other conclusion. 



H. A. Kocn. 



Long-billed Marsh Wren. 



Ijarge numbers of these birds nest on the 

 salt meadows of Long Island. They pre- 

 fer a low bush, but sometimes build in the 

 meadow grass. The nest, made of coarse 

 sedges, etc., firmlj^ interwoven, cemented 

 together, and lined with soft stuffs, is not 

 exactly spherical, but longer in its perpen- 

 dicular diameter. It is usually fastened to 

 the bush or grasses firmly, about three feet 

 from the grouftd or water, as the case may 

 be. It has one hole in the side for entrance 

 and exit, and usually does not have any 

 preceptible projecting edge over the hole. 

 Of more than three hundred nests exam- 

 ined, not more than ten had the projecting 

 edge; six were double, (i. e., one connected 

 obove the other;) two had the holes in the 

 side; and one had the hole in the top, all 

 centaining eggs. 



The usual number of eggs is four or five. 

 Of over three hundred eggs collected, all 

 were in sets of four or five, except one set 

 of six, and two of three. When the eggs 

 are laid they are covered with a bunch of 

 fine grass, when the bird leaves the nest of 

 her own accord. When she is in the nest 

 the grass nearly fills the entrance. 



They lay from the early part of June to 

 the last of July and while some nests con- 

 tain young birds others are not completed. 

 L. P. B. 

 Queens Co., N. Y. 



