()2 



THE OSPREY. 



ready to leave it, as three others of the 

 family had already done before them. 

 Several exposures were made before a 

 g-ood result was obtained of this subject. 

 In photog^raphing- nests we must use a 

 very small diaphrag-m, in order to g^et the 

 details of the materials used in its con- 

 struction. This entails a long-er expos- 

 ure, and in this case, althoug-h the ^-oung- 

 were apparentlv asleep, they neverthe- 

 less, ever and anon g-ave vent to a loud 

 chirp, wig'g"ling- the whole body as the}^ 



did so. This maneuvre was ample, how- 

 ever, to ruin the desired result. 



Nests in all ornithological works are 

 very rarely well drawn, and are never 

 exactly what they are in nature. More- 

 ever they are extremely tedious objects to 

 properly depict, and as their exact repre- 

 sentation is very important for works 

 devoted to scientific ornitholog-y, it should 

 be the aim of every one able to make 

 correct photographs of them, to not let 

 such opportunities past in any sing^le 

 instance. 



Nesting of Baird's Sparrow in North Dakota, 



(Ajinnodi-aJHHS bainlii. ) 

 BY EUGENE S. KOLFE. 



□ N June 16th, 1895, while on my way 

 to a lonely strip of rocky land jut- 

 ting- out from the Indian Reserva- 

 tion into Devil's Lake, where I vainly 

 hoped to surprise the Franklin's Gull nest- 

 ing-. I flushed a small bird from her 

 nest containing- five eg-g-s of a clear blue- 

 ish-white ground, plentifully spotted and 

 sprinkled, mostly about the larg-e end, 

 with rich brick-red marking-s. The nest 

 was sunk in the g-round, flush with sur- 

 face at the foot of a weed stalk some 

 dozen inches hig-h, and lined neatly with 

 fine died g-rasses and a trifle of horse hair. 

 There was nothing- about the nest to dis- 

 ting-uish it from that of the Western 

 Vesper Sparrow, a plentiful breeder here- 

 abouts, yet the eg-g-s plainly did not 

 belong- to that species nor to the common 

 Savanna or Grasshopper Sparrows, with 

 all of which species I was fairly familiar. 

 So after some wearisome maneuvering- to 

 g-et the bird in rang-e and g-et far enoug-h 

 away from my No. 6 shot to prevent its 

 mutilation beyond possibility of identifica- 

 tion I killed it, but a full hour's search 

 among- the rank g-rass failed to reveal 

 the little body, and I reluctantly aban- 

 doned the spot, thoroug-hly satisfied that 

 I had taken a g-enuine set of Baird's 

 Sparrow, but without the necessary proof 

 to make the find of scientific value. Later 

 on I shot a pair to thoroug-hlv familiarize 

 myself with the species which I had often 

 enoug-h observed in ig-norance of their 

 identity. 



This year I set resolutely about the 

 task of taking- a set and making- satis- 



factory identification, and assisted by my 

 young- son, faithfully drag-g-ed many, 

 many acres of prairie in the likeliest lo- 

 calities and always with occasional males 

 of the species in sig-ht, as thev clung- to 

 some weed stalk and sung- out their 

 cheery "zip, zip, zip, g-r-r-r-r-r, " with a 

 slig-ht fading- in streng-th toward the end, 

 but beyond a couple of well-domed nests 

 of the Western Meadowlark, and one 

 each of the Bobolink and Chestnut-collared 

 Long-spur — both the latter containing- 

 young- — the rope search was unavailing-. 

 'However, the field collector well knows 

 that he does not oftenest find the object 

 for which he makes a specific search and 

 that eventually it will most likel}- be 

 revealed by accident. 



On June 20th, 1896, while driving- 

 home with sets and nests of the Baldpate 

 and Lesser Scaup Duck, my cart wheel 

 nearly g-razed the much desired nest of 

 the Baird Sparrow sunk in the g-round on 

 the open prairie at the foot of a trifling- 

 sprig- of g^reasewood, and much like the 

 nest described above, except that the 

 lining- was more scanty and contained no 

 horsehair, althoug-h a fenced pasture 

 containing- horses was but a few rods 

 away. The bird sat close, allowing- my 

 horse to pass by without moving-, but 

 doubtless, was unable to brave the rattle 

 of the cart when too close at hand, and so 

 fluttered up and away for a dozen yards 

 and dropped suddenly into the g-rass. 



My faithful mare has long- ceased to be 

 g-un-shy, but she has a fashion of leaving- 

 me alone on the prairie if I leave her 



