166 



OKKITHOLOGIST 



[Yol. 14-:N^o. 1.1 



A Pleasant Hour. 



On the 27tli of May, 1880, I reached Mis- 

 souri Valley, Iowa, a small country town some 

 twenty-three miles northeast from Omaha. 

 While my errand was purely a business one, 

 I nevertheless had my eyes open for any- 

 thing in the ciological line, and, as we did not 

 arrive until after four o'clock in the after- 

 noon, too late for business, we concluded to 

 devote the balance of the day to a stroll 

 through the woods which cover the hills and 

 ravines to the north of the town. So after 

 depositing our baggage safely in our room at 

 the hotel we started out. By "we" I mean 

 my wife and myself, for she enjoys the woods 

 and fields fully as much as I do, and never 

 misses a chance to accompany me on my 

 tramps. 



It was now five o'clock, and fully a ipiar- 

 ter of an hour later when we reached the 

 woods. What a relief it was to enter them, 

 and how gloriously cool and still it seemed, 

 only those who, like ourselves have tried it 

 after having spent a long, hot, and dusty day 

 on the train can imagine. We strolled 

 slowly along listening to the continual music 

 of the birds; breathing in long, deep draughts 

 of the pure, cool air, and watching sharply 

 for anything that looked like a nest. Sud- 

 denly I laid my hand on my wife's arm and 

 there to the right, not more than fifteen feet 

 from the path, was our first find. A rough, 

 rather bulky mass of dead twigs. It was 

 placed about eight feet above the ground in 

 a young elm and proved to be a nest of the 

 Rose-breasted Grosbeak {Habia ludovlciana) 

 and to contain seven eggs, five of which be- 

 longed to the rightful owners of the nest and 

 the other two to the Cowbird (Molothni.f ater). 

 After safely consigning them to the old cigar- 

 box which did duty as a collecting box, we re- 

 sumed our walk. Bird life was abundant all 

 around us, but it would take too long to enum- 

 erate the different species observed. 



A little further along another nest greeted 

 our eyes. This time it was that of the Wood 

 Thrush (TurduH mustelimts) and contained four 

 fresh eggs. It was built in the crotch of a 

 small sapling about twelve feet from the 

 ground. The spectacle of myself, a firm 

 grasp on the sapling with one hand, the nest 

 in the other, and all the while trying to 

 place it in my wife's outstretched hands, 

 would, no doubt, have proved quite laughable 

 to an onlooker; however, there was no one to 



look, and to us it was all very sober earnest. 

 On again reaching the ground I followed the 

 old bird, who kept constantly flitting from one 

 tree or bush to another, to make sure of my 

 identification. While engaged in this occupa- 

 tion I was startled by a large brownish look- 

 ing bird which arose from the ground almost 

 from under my feet. A glance and I recog- 

 nized the Whip-poor-will (Antrofitomus roci- 

 ferus) and there, too, right before me, on the 

 bare ground at the edge of abiush heap lay 

 the twH) eggs. There was no attempt what- 

 ever at a nest, the eggs being laid simply upon 

 the dead leaves which covered the ground. 

 It was a beautiful contrast, too, which was 

 brought out by the dark brown background 

 of the leaves, and the grayish, marbled sur- 

 face of the two eggs. Having safely dis- 

 posed of this last find we resumed our tramp, 

 and had not gone fifty feet when another 

 bird arose from almost under our feet. This 

 time it was the Black and White Warbler 

 (Mniotilla varia), who fiuttered lamely off, us- 

 ing all the tactics peculiar to many of the 

 ground-builders when fiushed from the nest. 

 Paying no attention to her we devoted our- 

 selves to a search for the nest, and in a few mo- 

 ments success rewarded our eftorts. It was 

 composed externally of roots and a few twigs, 

 and lined with hair; the whole being placed 

 in a slight hollow in the ground at the foot of 

 a sapling. The eggs were six in number, four 

 belonging to the i)arent birds and the remain- 

 ing two to that avian parasite, the ('owl>ird. 

 One of the Warbler's eggs was badly cracked 

 or broken, and glued fast to the bottom of the 

 nest. The cigar box was again called into re- 

 quisition, and, as it was now supper time we 

 turned our steps in the direction of the hotel 

 quite elated at our success. 



In looking back over my varied experiences 

 afield I fail to recall one which gave me more 

 real pleasure than the one short hour whose 

 principal occurrences I have tried to outline 

 above. 



While travelling through Iowa this spiing I 

 several times found nests of the Robin (Merula 

 mii/rntoria) placed on top of the oil box of ii eight 

 cars. They were placed between the wheel and 

 the equalizer. At the same time I also found 

 several placed on the floor timbers of the car. 

 These nests contained eggs in some instances. 

 Most of the cars had been side tracked for 

 some time and to this fact, as well as to the 

 scarcity of trees in that country, I attributed 

 the choice of so unusual a nesting place. 



Geo. L. Toppan. 



