January, 1893.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



After a drive of five miles and a good 

 night's rest, on the 39th I was in good 

 trim for worlt, and after breakfast we 

 started out. The first thing to be done 

 was to examine the two nests my friend 

 had found, which were both in the same 

 thicket about two hundred yards apart. 

 The first nest contained four eggs of the 

 Warbler and one of the Cowbird. When 

 it was found it contained two eggs of the 

 Warbler and the Cowbird. I did not dis- 

 turb this nest as I was going to stay until 

 the next day. The second nest was about 

 half finished, but mv friend declared thai 

 there had been nothing added to it since 

 he found it, but on June gtli he took a set 

 of five fresh eggs from it. 



Our next find was a nest containing v/v 

 fresh eggs in a small thicket on edge of 

 a wood where I never found a pair before 

 and have been hunting over the same 

 ground for the past ten years. This was 

 a grand surprise as I had never found a 

 nest containing more than five eggs, but it 

 seemed as if this was my luckv day and 

 made up of surprises, for after packing the 

 six little beauties safely in my box we 

 started again and after a tramp of a half 

 mile we entered a heavy wood ; after tramp- 

 ing through it for some distance we came 

 to a small stream of water and a clear spot 

 containing about an eighth of an acre, with 

 a few raspberry vines scattered about. 



As we entered the clear spot what was 

 our surprise to hear the notes of the Blue- 

 wing above our heads. It took us but a 

 moment to find the nest which contained 

 three fresh eggs. I left them and my 

 friend secured the nest and five eggs for 

 me on June 2d. After leaving this nest 

 and tramping another half mile or more 

 we came to an old breeding site where for 

 the past three years we have found a nest 

 of this species. The site is a narrow strip 

 of ground between the last furrow of a 

 ploughed field and an old worn fence di- 

 viding the field from a large wood, covered 



with tall grass, blackberry and raspberry 

 vines. The Sunday before we had been over 

 this site and I thought it was impossible 

 for a nest to be there and we not find it, 

 but such must have been the case, for upon 

 coming near it I sent my friend to examine 

 a good site for a pair to take up in, telling 

 him i would examine the old one but with 

 no hope of success. I went the length of 

 it, looking carefully into every place large 

 enough to contain a nest and had nearly 

 reached the corner of the fence and almost 

 the last vine when out hopped the little 

 Blue-wing. I stepped up to the vine, 

 looked into the nest, counted the eggs, rub- 

 bed my eyes, looked and counted again, 

 rubbed my eyes, counted the third time 

 and yelled to my friend the number, scz'cii. 

 After packing tliem, we threw ourselves 

 on the ground in the shade of a large oak 

 and talked the matter over, and we both 

 came to the same conclusion tiiat the nest 

 must have been there when we looked for 

 it a week before. 



After taking a half hour's rest and re- 

 freshing ourselves with a drink of cold 

 spring water, we started for another site, 

 wheie we found a pair of birds. The 

 season before this was a narrow strip of 

 clear ground on the edge of a wood about 

 an eighth of a mile in length, overgrown 

 with bushes and vines of many different 

 kinds. We started in at the west end and 

 after going about half way we knew the 

 birds were there by hearing their song ; 

 we hunted the whole length of the wood 

 and came to the conclusion that they had 

 either hidden their nest so well that we 

 overlooked it or else had not commenced 

 it yet, when reaching the end of the wood 

 where a fence divided it from a clover field 

 there was a small cluster of raspberry vines ; 

 stepping over to them and looking on the 

 ground I saw the nest with little or no 

 protection ; it contained two eggs. On 

 June 3d my friend secured the nest with 

 I five eggs. 



