THE OSPREY. 



81 



portions of the State the Phoebe builds in 

 roots, under banks of railroad cuts and 

 in the walls of tunnels, in sandstone 

 caves, which are so common alonii; the 

 Mississippi River in the neighborhood of 

 St. Paul. 



OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHEK. 



A rather common migrant, a few re- 

 mainini^to breed in the Southern portions 

 of the State, where the nest is placed as 

 far as possible out on the end of a limb 

 from 10 to 40 feet up. Larch or oak 

 trees are usually selected, and the nest 

 very much resembles a Kingbird's, but is 

 more flattened. 



The eggs are the handsomest of the 

 family, the ground color being a deep 

 flesh color, very handsomely blotched and 

 speckled in a wreath around the large end, 

 with reddish and purplish brown, resem- 

 bling a Wood Pewee's eiifJ:. 



The eggs are usually four, commonly 

 three, and I have heard of a set of live, 

 but they are extremely rare. A set of 

 three taken May 30, 1894, from the limb 

 of a larch tree, fourteen feet up and six 

 feet from the trunk, measures .78x.60, 

 .80X.62, .82x.()2 These are rather small. 

 The average would be about .85x.65. 



WOOD PEWEE. 



A common summer resident, arriving 

 about the 10th of May. The note con- 

 sists of three syllables long drawn out, 

 resembling "pee-ah-wee," repeated sev- 

 eral times. 



The nests are built in thick woods, 

 usually near water, and are very hand- 

 some examples of bird architecture, being 

 saddled on a limb or fork of an oak tree 

 usually: are quite flat, and composed of 

 weeds, stalks, grape-vine bark and grass 

 stems, lined with bark strips, and adorned 

 with lichens stuck over the outside. The 

 eggs are almost invariably three in num- 

 ber, creamy white, spotted in a wreath 

 about the larger end with brown-red and 

 lilac-gray, and average .75x.55. 



The Yellow-bellied Flycatcher and 

 Traill's Fhxatcher I have never met with, 

 but they have been taken within the 

 State, and are rare migrants. 



LEAST FLYCATCHER. 



A tolerably abundant summer resident, 

 arriving by the middle of May, soon 

 mates and begins nest-building. The 

 nest is a well-built structure, deeply 

 cupped, and always placed in a crotch, 

 usually upright, but never saddled on 

 horizontally; composed of fibrous weeds, 

 milkweed bark, and fine grasses, of a de- 

 decidedly grayish silver appearance out- 

 side and lined with strips of fine bark of 

 a reddish color, and some downy substance. 

 The height varies from six to thirty feet, 

 fifteen being the average, and maple or 

 elm trees are usually preferred. 



The eggs are creamy white, three or 

 four in number, though occasionally but 

 two are laid. Average size of ten sets, 

 — seven of four and one of two and two of 

 three — is .64x.52. 



(General motes* 



FIKST EGG FOK '97. 



On Christmas morning I was attracted 

 by the familiar behavior of a female 

 Anna's Hummer as she poised before a 

 pampas plume, delicateh" selecting tiny 

 bits of down, and by following her as she 

 darted off, I located the nest, which was 

 scarcely begun. December 30, five days 

 later, the nest had reached the usual pro- 

 portions of a Hummer's nest. On Janu- 

 ary 1, 1897, between 7:32 and 7:50 in the 

 morning, the first egg was laid, and on 

 January 4, between 7:45 and 7:58 a. m., 

 the second was laid. 



Joseph Gkinnell. 



Pasadena, Cal. 



SNOWY OWLS numerous. 



Snowy Owls have been wonderfully 

 plentiful in this vicinity. The two local 

 taxidermists have had thirty brought to 

 them at last accounts. On the flats op- 

 posite the city one can see two or three of 

 these handsome birds any day. My 

 brother and I have just mounted a mag- 

 nificent specimen. J. H. Bowles. 



Tacoma, Wash. 



PINE SISKIN IN SABULA, IOWA. 



The Pine Siskin has been unusually 

 abundant here, for the past few weeks. I 

 first noted them on November 20, at which 

 time I saw a large flock feeding on cab- 

 bage and beet tops, which had been left 

 standing in the garden, and they have 



