6o 



THE OOLOGIST. 



{Derul oecamsiiva^, though somewhat larger, 

 being composed of small weed stems, pieces 

 of loaves, hcmpy fiber of dry weed stems, 

 etc., firmly interwoven with each other 

 and tightly bound together with cobweb, 

 the wliolewell lined with "wild cotton "of 

 the milk and silk weeds. The nest is very 

 compact and well finished, and necessarily 

 from its precarious position on the end of a 

 limb, built with a deep cavity for the con- 

 tents, the depth of the nest being about H 

 inches and its diameter about the same. 

 Nevertheless I have found nests, after a 

 rain or wind storm, from which the con- 

 tents had been thrown to the ground. 



The eggs, from four to six (usually five) 

 in number, of a pure bluish-white color 

 (never spotted), much resemble those of the 

 Indigo Bunting {Passerina cyanea) and av- 

 erage about .55 by .52 in. 



The bird, generally well-known by sight, 

 can easily be iden4ified when in motion by 

 its irregular, undulating flight. 



H. A. Koch. 



Notes from Yates County, N. Y. 



Nest of the Blue Yellow-backed 

 Warbler. 



While out hunting |on September 2d I 

 saw, as I thought, a large bunch of the 

 kind of moss generally found growing on 

 fir trees and cedars. On a closer examin- 

 ation, however, I discovered that some 

 bird, whose species I could not determine, 

 hud made its nest in the bunch. The nest 

 was hung on a branch of a grape-vine, 

 about ten feet from the groimd. I suppose 

 the bird brought the moss from the neigh- 

 boring cedars, and having festooned it 

 about the vine, she drew up about half the 

 bunch, out of which she shaped the nest, 

 bracing it with two small twigs at the top 

 and leaving the rest of the moss hanging 

 down. The nest was lined with a few 

 horse hairs and had an opening near the 

 top on the south side. The bunch of moss 

 was nearly four feet long, with the nest 

 about a' foot from the top. The dimen- 

 sions of the nest were as follows : Length, 

 4.10 in, ; breadth, 3.15 in.; thickness, 3 in. 

 What is it '? A. C. T., 



Lexington, Va. 



April 1— Took my first set for 1886. It 

 was a set of two Red-tailed Hawk, and the 

 finest set of this bird I ever saw. They 

 were a dirty white color, blotched and 

 spotted with reddish-brown, mostly at the 

 larger end. 



April 10 — Took a set of three of Red- 

 shouldered Hawk. The nest was in an oak 

 tree, lined with needles from pine and hem- 

 lock. 



May 16— Found a White-bellied Nut- 

 hatch's nest with four eggs, but could not 

 get them, as they were in a small hole and 

 I didn't have my net with me. 



May 18— Found a Yellow-shafted Flick- 

 er's nest with six young and three eggs al- 

 most hatched. 



May 16 — Took a set of four Belted King- 

 fisher. The nest was composed of a few 

 dry leaves and fish bones at the end of a 

 burrow in bank of creek. 



June 22 — Took a set of three Great- 

 crested Flycatcher. Nest was in a hole in 

 a stump and was composed of sticks, fine 

 pieces of bark and rootlets, two of the (es- 

 sential) snake skins, fur from a squirrel's 

 tail, a lock of human hair, two feathers, a 

 piece of paper, some dead leaves and cow 

 and horse hair. How is that for a nest V 



July 23 — While coming home from work 

 I flushed a Goldfinch from her nest in a 

 small bush and was very much surprised 

 find five eggs, four of which were spotted 

 thickly with light brown, mostly at the 

 larger end. The other had no spots on. 

 Has anybody ever found spotted eggs of 

 the Goldfinch ? 



August 5 — Took another set of spotted 

 eggs of Goldfinch. I think the same bird 

 that layed the others laid them, as the nest 

 was not over forty rods from the one I took 

 the others from. 



August 14 — Mr. Frank Botsford brought 

 me a fine specimen of Double-crested Cor- 

 morant which he shot on this lake — Keuka. 

 This is the first time 1 ever heurd of them 

 around this lake. 



September 7 — Saw a Bald Eagle on a 

 dead limb in top of a tree. 



V. BURTCH, 



Branchport, N. Y. 



