THE OSPREY. 



79 



(April 21, 1889) which he records in the 

 "O. and O." for June, 1889. He says: 



"The Spicer Ledg-es borcalis, which, 

 April 22, 1888, g-ave the g-reen runt 

 recorded b\' Mr. Norris in the "O. andO." 

 for April, 1889, had a pair of eg-gs nor- 

 mal in size, but preserving- the rare tint, 

 in an example of the poper-shell type. 



"This ag-ed female, escaping- traps and 

 cold lead in a miraculous way, has bred 

 here continually since 1875, according- to 

 my data, alternating- between two trees 

 in the heart of the woods 40 rods apart. 

 She has for that leng-th of time g-iven 

 abundant evidence of being- the self-same 

 Hawk, and local tradition has it that one 

 of these old leaning chestnuts on the 

 ledg-es for thirty 3'ears has held a Red- 

 tail's nest." 



It would be interesting- to hear from 

 J. M. W., and learn if his old borcalis 

 g-ave him any more g-reen eg-g-s in after 

 years. 



Rev. J. H. Langille, in "Our Birds in 

 Their Haunts, "published in 1892, on pag-e 

 96, mentions a set of three eg-g-s taken in 

 Western New York, on March 27, but 

 does not g-ive the year. His description 

 of the eg-gs is as follows: The eggs, 

 about 2.25 long by rather less than 1.90 

 broad, are roundish, one end a little 

 smaller than the other, greenish-white, 

 two dimly scratched and spotted with 

 purplish-brown, while all are more or 

 less sparingl}' marked with a muddy- 

 brown, the latter coloring in the case of 

 the otherwise clear &^^^ seeming verj- 

 much like slight smirchings of dirt." He 

 also mentions (page 97) a set of two, 

 describing the markings, but does not 

 say if the ground color was of the same 

 tint. 



On April 21, 1891, I collected a set of two 

 which, with their bright greenish ground 

 color and delicate markings of lilac and 

 fawn color, make them unique among all 

 the eggs of this species which I have 

 seen. 



The same pair of hawks gave me two 

 more eggs of greenish hue on April 29, 



1892. These two clutches are recorded in 

 the "O.and O." for March. 1893, likewise 

 a single green Q:^g. 



In 18<>3 I located this pair of Bittcos 

 again on Sheldon Hill, where I first 

 found them in '91. And a cold climb on 

 the morning of April 26 to a nest pro- 

 fusely lined with green sprigs of hemlock 

 and pine, 53 feet up a big red oak, re- 

 warded me with a set of two, which fail 

 to show a trace of green, being faint blu- 

 ish-white in ground color. 



I failed to find their nest in 1894, and 

 only found it by accident in 1895 in a 

 small wooded ravine just across the val- 

 ley. When searching for a nest oicoopcri 

 on May 16, was surprised to see a female 

 Red-tail flap out of an old leaning hem- 

 lock when I roped a tree some two rods 

 distant. I went up and found an old 

 flat nest 65 feet from the ground, contain- 

 ing two eggs nearly hatched and several 

 sprigs of fresh green maple leaves. Both 

 eggs are deep greenish-white, one plain, 

 the other heavily marked. 



Last spring ( 1896) they came back to 

 their old haunts on Sheldon Hill and 

 commenced housekeeping early, building 

 a new nest 90 feet up in a triple crotch 

 in top of a big "shell bark" hickory-. 

 From this I took a richly marked set of 

 three eggs on April 18th, incubation well 

 commenced. Two of these eggs are 

 grayish-white, one showing green shell 

 markings through the outside deposit of 

 ground color at the smaller end, the other 

 egu- very pale bluish-white. 



They then built a second new nest 20 

 rods above, close to a miniature swamp 

 on the very top of the hill. This was 40 

 feet up in a straight soft maple. Three 

 more eggs were taken from it on May 16; 

 grayish-white, with much fainter mark- 

 ings than the first clutch. 



It would seem from the data which I 

 have been able to gather, that green 

 eggs of borcalis are rare, but my observa- 

 tions have been limited, so, too, is my 

 library, and I should like to hear from 

 others on the subject. 



Flycatchers of Minnesota, 



BY WALTON I. MITCHKLL. 



THE TyraiiiiidiV are quite fully ep- 

 resented in our State, six species 

 being summer residents and two 

 migrants, though very rare. 



Of all the family the Kingbird is, as in 

 most localities the commonest. The date 

 of his arrival has not varied four days in 

 the last six years I have kept observa- 



