THE OSPREY. 



141 



in a pasture," no date given. These and other Cali- But the choicest set of the collection is one that was 



fornia sets are, mainly, very sparsely, yet beautifully, taken in '95 at Wilder, Minnesota, exactly as was the 



marked. set just mentioned — the mother bird rising from under 



But most attractive (to me, of course,) are the sets the wheel, which touched the rim of the nest — just 



of my own taking. One was found in a lowland as I reached the center of a prairie plateau elevated 



Kansas meadow — the female flying from beneath my a little above the depths of a deep valley that crouched 



very feet — the partly arched nest being cosily set into low among high hills. No tyro was that pair of birds 



a cow track among the rather scanty grass. Taken at nest-building. A well-shaped hollow was dug in 



June 23 ; undoubtedly a second set. Another Kansas the hard soil among the weeds between two grass 



nest was stumbled upon at 

 midday in a weedy upland pas- 

 ture, the mother bird sitting 

 quietly in the well-arched 

 nest, not flying until I had 

 eyed her for several seconds, 

 having caught a sudden view 

 of her while not over five feet 

 away. This on June 3 ; most 

 likely a second set. 



On May 26 of the summer 

 of i8g6, just outside the edge 

 of the hazel, poplar and burr- 

 oak "scrub" that surrounds 

 this village, — an interesting 

 point where North Dakota, 

 Minnesota and Manitoba meet, 

 — among the weeds that bor- 



.•\N OSPREY NEST ON ROCK BELOW. 



PHOTOGRAPHKD AT YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK. 



tussocks, and a fine, thick and 

 perfectly symmetrical nest was 

 built ; the arch being so com- 

 plete that it was necessary to 

 raise it not a little to give my 

 camera a peep at all the eggs. 

 The latter are wonderfully 

 rich in their sparse markings 

 yet rich colorings ; (that is to 

 say, five of them, for the sixth 

 is stippled at the larger end — 

 like so many of the iici^lccta 

 eggs — with tiny dots of the 

 darkest brown.) The six eggs 

 lay, as the bird left the nest, 

 in two rows of three each 

 Being left, for identification, 

 they were afterward found 



dered a bit of overflowed meadow, in a little depres- again in the same relative position — making thus, 



sion of a slight hollow among hummocks I found — with the rarely perfect nest, an mscmble whose beauty 



or rather my buggy wheel found— a nest. The bird the camera has portrayed for readers of The Osprey 



flew, apparently, from underneath the buggy as the ^^^ j^^^e perfectly than a whole font of well-ordered 

 wheel passed, the track cutting the soft turf not two 

 inches from the nest, which, being well concealed, 



was not arched — the nest-material, (a few dead weed- 

 stalks and grasses) being interlaced above, just as they 

 had grown and been settled by the winter's snow. The 

 six eggs contained in the nest were sparsely marked 

 with large pale spots— the markings on one egg being 

 the palest I have ever seen. 



type could do. But oh, if only I could have photo- 

 graphed the song of the male bird as he dashed after 

 his mate — scolding her (man-like) I thought, for her 

 arrant cowardice. Brave enough, he ; but did he, I 

 wonder, ever help to feed the larklings that burst 

 their shells a little later in another nest among the 

 nodding weeds ? 



MODIFICATIONS OF OUR AVI-FAUNA. 



REV. J. M. KECK, MENTOR, OHIO. 



WITH the changes incident to the cutting away 

 of the forests and the clearing up of the 

 country, there have also occurred changes 

 in the avifauna of Northeastern Ohio. Before the 

 advent of the white man. the Quail, probably, was 

 not a denizen of this region , while Wild Turkeys 

 were, doubtless, very abundant Water fowl, also, 

 in great numbers and of many species, frequented 

 the shore of Lake Erie and adjacent marshes, 

 streams and ponds. Different species of Ducks, 

 which are now but transient visitors here, once 

 reared their broods by our waters. 



Bob White, it is said, was first heard in this local- 

 ity in about the year 1800, after the first settlers had 

 been here several years. Through causes, possibly 

 in part unknown, other birds have come to us from 



time to time. The Bobolink appeared in about 1857, 

 and was for some years regarded as a curiosity and a 

 wonder. We now have our meadows alive with 

 them from May to August. The Lark Finch was 

 not observed here before 1861, and is still exceeding- 

 ly rare. The English Sparrow reached our cities in 

 about 1870, and began to nest in the rural villages 

 probably ten years later. The Black-throated Bunt- 

 ing has been noted during the last few years by other 

 observers located south and west of us, but I have 

 not yet seen it in Lake County. The Cardinal Gros- 

 beak, always abundant in Central and Southern 

 Ohio, is extending its range farther to the north ; and 

 one or two appearances have been reported within 

 our county. 



The Indigo Bird and the White-rumped Shrike 



