70 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. iS-No. s 



appear that the Mocking-bird occurs as a 

 summer resident in nearly all parts of the 

 State, very rare or perhaps a straggler in the 

 northern third of the State, yet Kennicott 

 gives it as nesting near Chicago and Dr. 

 Hoy records 6 nests near Racine, Wis. 



It is found in various localities as a sum- 

 mer resident in the middle third, in some 

 places being even tolerably common. In 

 Fazewell County it has been found quite reg- 

 ularly during the nesting season. In the 

 southern third it is even abundant in some 

 localities, while in others it is rare or seems 

 entirely wanting. It seems to prefer the 

 lower side of the Illinois River and to follow 

 it up — even as far as Chicago — without 

 crossing it to any great extent. 



The distribution of the Mocking-bird is 

 very uncertain. In one county it will be 

 found and in another adjoining it will not be 

 seen, or is very rare. To all appearances 

 the localities are equally suitable for it. 



One drawback to its study is the fact that 

 by the average person Thrushes, Catbirds or 

 even Shrikes are often called Mocking-birds, 

 making any report except from a " book " 

 observer unreliable. Most of the reports 

 give them as preferring a hilly country where 

 there is plenty of sand. 



The nest is placed in some kind of a thorn 

 tree or brush pile and is so nearly like that 

 of the Brown Thrush as to need no descrip- 

 tion. It is usually not over 6 feet from the 

 ground. 



The date of nesting varies greatly in this 

 State, extending from April to June ; but the 

 general opinion is that two broods are reared 

 in one season. 



The number of eggs varies from 3 to 6, 

 with an average of 4. 



The eggs vary greatly in size. Davie gives 

 .94 X .71 as a common size. 



A. C. Murchison. 



I found the nest of a white-bellied Nuthatch 

 May 15, with nine fresh eggs ; nest in oak 30 

 feet from ground. G. Pluii/n/cr, Boston. 



My First Day of Egg Collecting. 



Egg collecting was far from being a science 

 at Omaha when Charley Meyers and I en- 

 tered the High School. We found about 

 eight fellows there with collections ranging 

 from 20 to 120 varieties, and the man who 

 had the 120 collection was the only one who 

 had really read or made any study of his 

 collecting ; the others had heard that there 

 were books about birds and eggs, but 

 guessed that they didn't amount to much. 

 Most of them looked with admiring awe at 

 the 120-man, and talked knowingly among 

 themselves of Kingbirds and Buntings, and 

 boasted of two sets of Doves' eggs in one 

 day. 



Charley and I were both taken with the 

 idea of collecting, and likewise gazed admir- 

 ingly at the 120-man, who had gotten every 

 kind of egg around Omaha, so rumor said, 

 and for a while we also talked of getting 

 numbers of common eggs that we ought to 

 have been shot for taking. We went into 

 the subject with a good deal of enthusiasm, 

 and after a little we caught and passed all 

 but two or three of the other boys, and along 

 towards the close of the season we discovered 

 a book in the public library that was devoted 

 to birds and eggs and was not half so dry as 

 one would think, and from that we gathered 

 the idea that perhaps the 1 20-man had not 

 gotten every kind of egg that flourished near 

 Omaha. We read that book quietly, and 

 after a while it began to dawn upon us that 

 off in the woods near the river there was no 

 good reason why there should not be Crow 

 and perhaps Hawk nests, a possibility that 

 nearly took our breaths away, for no collec- 

 tion in town boasted of a Hawk's egg, and 

 the only Crow's was one in the collection of 

 the 120-collector, and he had gotten it by 

 exchange with a collector in another city, 

 and he held it as the pride of his collection. 



\\'hen we recovered from the shock of the 

 idea, we held further communion with the 

 book and became certain that those river 



