THE OOLOGIST 



67 



eggs. Finally he took wing and flew to 

 a small grove of oaks that stood 200 

 feet from the main woods. Upon our 

 hurrying to this grove we found the 

 Nuthatch and were so fortunate as to 

 see him go to a knot hole, 30 feet up 

 in the main trunk of a straight black 

 oak. This tree stood on the very bord- 

 er of the grove, and was one foot in 

 thickness at the base. When we had 

 watched a short time the female bird 

 came from the hole and accompanied 

 by her mate, searched over the tree 

 trunks nearby. I soon procured the 

 climbing irons and ascended the tree. 

 Upon close inspection the nest was 

 found to contain 7 fresh eggs, and was 

 about 8 inches below the entrance- 

 hole. It was composed of soft pieces 

 of inner tree bark. 



While I was at the nest the female 

 bird came back and quite near to me 

 once — within two feet of my head — 

 and kept up her alarm note. 



On the morning of April 25. I tramp- 

 ed to a wood lying some two miles 

 east of the village. Here I found a 

 male Nuthatch flitting about the tree 

 trunks, and eventually followed him to 

 his nest where he fed the female. 

 This nest was built at the bottom of 

 an 18-inch cavity with a round knot- 

 hole for an entrance. It was situated 

 22 feet up in a small, bending, white 

 oak tree that stood on a bank well 

 strewn with white oaks. When I as- 

 cended the tree I found the nest to 

 hold 8 well spotted eggs, which rested 

 on an abundant lining of rabbit's fur 

 and pieces of inner tree bark. The 

 female was extremely anxious at my 

 presence and lit only a foot above me 

 while I was at the entrance of her 

 home. 



On the afternoon of May 17, I was 

 fortunate enough to find a third nest. 

 It was built in a large natural cavity, 

 7 feet up in the main trunk of a lean- 

 ing apple tree that bordered on an 



apple orchard, of medium size. The 

 female bird was captured upon her 

 nest which held 5 fresh eggs. When I 

 returned two days later I found that a 

 sixth egg had been added. This last 

 egg was faintly marked, due, I believe, 

 to the fright of the bird when she was 

 caught upon my first visit to the nest. 



This nest was a slight affair, being 

 only a little rabbit's hair and dry 

 grass, lying on decayed wood dust, 

 twelve inches from the large entrance 

 hole. 



I shall add in closing that it is not 

 an easy matter to locate the nests of 

 these birds. On account of patience 

 that is required to follow them to their 

 home, for they are extremely wary 

 and lead one a merry chase before 

 going to the nest. 



S. S. Dickey. 

 Waynesburg, Pa. 



Notice. 



The plate on page 43 of the March 

 issue of THE OOLOGIST is of a Turn- 

 stone. 



A description of the plate on page 

 67 of this issue will be found on pages 

 1.5 and 16 of this volume. 



The Cowbird in Philadelphia and 

 Vicinity. 



According to Stone's "Birds of East- 

 ern Pennsylvania and New Jersey" 

 (Page 30) the Cowbird (Molothrus 

 ater) is "a common summer resident" 

 in the vicinity of Philadelphia, but, 

 according to my experience as an ac- 

 tive field ornithologist during the past 

 seventeen years in this locality, it is 

 rather a scarce summer resident, par- 

 ticularly in the northeastern part of 

 Philadelphia County. In this region, 

 I have found it's eggs and young only 

 fifty-five times, or on an average of 

 three nests a year, out of an examina- 

 tion of about 4800 nests of birds in 

 which the Cowbird has been known to 



