81:) 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 16-No. 6 



Nesting of the Willet on Cobb's 

 Island. 



Evei'y oniitliological collector, wlietlit'r lie 

 be scientist or amateur, has, I presume, some 

 pet family or class of birds which are his 

 especial favorites, and to the study of which 

 he gives particular attention. So to me the 

 Lhiiicoki' have ever exercised a peculiar fas- 

 cination since the day, now some half dozen 

 y(!ars ago, wlieu 1 first dashed a frightened 

 "Tipup" from her scanty nest with its four 

 speckled treasures. But an inland city is a 

 poor place for shore birds, and consequently 

 when, in the season of ISSi-', I found myself 

 and another enthusiast settled for a two weeks' 

 hunt on Cobb's Island, it was with the greatest 

 pleasure that J noticed there were still several 

 species of waders breeding commonly in the 

 vicinity, and among them none were so numer- 

 ous and conspicuous as the Willets. 



As in most places in the .South game "jiro- 

 tection'" is here unknown, and the birds are 

 ruthlessly killed throughout the entire suiimei-, 

 for, being large, tame (at this season) and 

 poor llyers they are readily shot. But shooting 

 the birds and taking their eggs are different 

 affairs, as we quickly discovered. Unlike the 

 Oystercatchers and Plovers they abandon the 

 beach for the seclusion afforded by the strip 

 of tall, dense grass separating the sand from 

 the marsh propel- wliicli covers tlie greater 

 part of the island, and is entirely monoiiolized 

 by Clapper Rails and a few small colonies of 

 the Laughing Gull. In this grass the nests 

 are so neatly hidden as to be all but "uiifind- 

 able," especially as the birds sit so closely one 

 must w-ell nigh step on them befin-e tliey will 

 flush. 



Here would be the ideal opportunity for the 

 collector witli a well-trained dog, and no 

 doubt had we used one our success would 

 have been much greater. As it was, anything 

 was better than walking them up, so after con- 

 siderable difficulty we succeeded in obtaining 

 a rickety two-wheeled cart with an ugly little 

 black bullock to draw it, and in this ungainly 

 rig we covered the island from end to end. 

 The birds would sit until the cart was almost 

 on top of them, and in one case our wheel 

 stopped within a hand's breadth of what 

 turned out to be our handsomest set. 



The nests were all very similar, consisting 

 of a small and rather deep hollow, lined thinly 

 with grass. Although in all cases the sitting 

 bird kept so quiet, her mate was always on the 



alert, and never failed to appear when we 

 approached, flying sometimes within a few 

 yards of our guns with the greatest fearless- 

 ness, and in spite of the fact that they are shot 

 at daily. So far as we could determine the 

 birds showed no disposition to colonize, breed- 

 ing indifferently over the whole length of the 

 island. They were, however, as I have men- 

 tioned above, confined to the thick beach 

 grass where the ground is (piite dry, and 

 though Uavie says, "the marshes at this jilace 

 (Cobb's Island), are also favorite breeding 

 localities, where the nests are built up from 

 the ground, which is wet at high tide," we 

 were entirely unsuccessful in finding any in 

 such situations. 



At the time of oiir visit (late in .lune) fresh 

 sets of the first haying were (Uit of the (piestion 

 as tlie height of the breeding season is about 

 the second week in May, so most of the nests 

 found held only threes, but several contained 

 four, while one had five. I may add that a 

 local collector showed us scefn eggs he had 

 taken from tlic same nest the season before, 

 but this is clearly a case of what might be 

 called "co-nidification," for want of a better 

 term. Tliese seven eggs are possibly tlie 

 same ones mentioned by " .T. P. N." in the 

 O. & O., Vol. XIII, p. 181). 



Like most birds which are robbed persis- 

 tently of their eggs, the Willets continue to 

 lay throughout the entire summer, but in spile 

 of this they are rajiidly diminishing in num- 

 bers, as are nearly all the other species which 

 breed along this coast. 



TliCDihin- ir. Rirliarils. 

 Wasliin;;tiin. O. ('. 



Unspotted Eggs of Chipping Sparrow. 



Mr. II. C. Campbell collected a very curious 

 set of eggs of the Chipping Sparrow (SjiizeUa 

 il<niif!<t.lr(() on June :!, 1888. The nest was in a 

 grape arbor ten feet from the ground, and Mr. 

 Campbell did not notice anything unusual 

 in its construction. The identification was 

 complete. 



The eggs are of normal size and ground 

 color, but entirely uiisjxitfril. This gives them 

 a very odd appearance. 



Mr. Campbell has very kindly presented 

 them to me, and they are in my caliinet. 



./. P. y. 



