90 



THE OOLOQI8T 



was certain they were going to use for 

 nesting sites, and in a week's time my 

 "launches" were confirmed. One Kill- 

 deer was found nesting in a place 1 

 had never thought of before. The or- 

 chard fruit trees were old and had 

 been planted on a gravelly slope. 

 Bountiful rains season after season, 

 had washed crevices of considerable 

 size and drowned some of the trees 

 which stood there dead but solid. On 

 one of these mountain-like chasms 

 jutting out twenty feet on either side 

 of the original surface of the hill side 

 was a darkly mottled set of Killdeer 

 resting among an arrangement of 

 pebbles in what I would have guessed 

 to be typical place for the "Whiskered" 

 Nighthawk. 



The conduct of the Summer Tanager 

 is rather different from that of the 

 Scarlet. The latter seems to announce 

 its presence through the metalic and 

 somewrhat pleasant call note of the 

 male. Several times in Kentucky I 

 have heard and seen the mother Sum- 

 mer Tanager calling and her note is 

 least melodious and uttered with ap- 

 parently no mate in evidence. 



At the end of a small oak bow and 

 well hidden by a cluster of leaves, I 

 found a nest of this species containing 

 three handsome eggs. The nest was 

 well built, but very little difference 

 existed between the inner and out- 

 ward dimensions. The nest seemed to 

 contain really no foundation whatever. 

 The same material, for instance, was 

 used for both inward and outward con- 

 struction. Considering the circumfer- 

 ence of the entire nest, the cavity was 

 very large but the entire composition 

 of the nest would not go far in the 

 make-up of a nest of the Towhee 

 which is sometimes placed in similar 

 situations. 



Gerard Alan Abbott. 



FEATHERS IN THE BLUE GRASS 



It was the morning of May 1st, 1921, 

 temperature about forty, and I was on 

 the geological uplift between Louis- 

 ville and Lexington, just a few days 

 prior to the running of the great Ken- 

 tucky Derby and a pedigreed steed was 

 getting its workout on the dirt roads. 

 Robins, Meadowlarks and Cardinals 

 were in evidence on all sides. 



The other day while walking around 

 in a hilly pasture among the broken 

 cornstalks left by the stock which had 

 wintered there I imagined I sa^w a spot 

 which a Killdeer had appropriated, 

 but on which she had left no eggs. To- 

 day her four pyform products are rest- 

 ing on their points in this untidy look- 

 ing pasture, so guess I haven't lost my 

 trained eye even though a nomad has 

 he been for the last five years. 



Along the creek that skirts the 

 slope, Mocking Birds, Brown Thrash- 

 er and Cat Birds are all singing. This 

 large unused field looks likable to 

 Plover and I hear the "Dee Dee" flying 

 along the base of the rock formation, 

 endeavoring to gain a few rods on the 

 intruder. Under the shadow of a good 

 sized boulder she left exposed four 

 scrawled specimens. Yes sir! my ear 

 is still keen. 



Phoebes are at home under the 

 bridges that span this picturesque 

 streatn and I have been standing un- • 

 der two Mourning Doves as they sus- 

 piciously eye me from their crude 

 nests in the thorny trees. Grackles 

 and Blue Jays are making constant 

 pilgrimage to the cedar clumps where 

 they are apparently house keeping. I 

 can see the yellow shafts of the "High 

 Holder" protruding from the cavity in 

 the telephone pole. Red-headed Wood- 

 peckers are inspecting the rail fences 

 and I surprised a little Downy exca- 

 vating her 1921 model. She was ab- 

 solutely unconcerned about my pres- 

 ence when I insisted upon being 

 noticed. Across the valley on the ad- 



