THE OOLOGIST. 



67 



chee," uttered iu the descenaiapt scale, 

 with the third and fourth syllables ut- 

 tered iu the same time as one other syl- 

 lable, aud both the same toue. Tliis is 

 a song I have heard before, but it is by 

 no means so common as the drowsy 

 "ra-a a-y-chee-e-e,'" which can be heard 

 in the vicinity of almost any hillside 

 thicket in April or May. 



As soon as the sun appears above the 

 horizon, the chorus of birdsoug ceases 

 as if by magic. Two minutes later 

 hardlj' a voice among the louder sing- 

 ers can be heard. The wiry voices of a 

 few Warblers, the soft whistling of the 

 Blue-wing and the sharp chipping song 

 of another, which begins "chip-e-chip- 

 e-chip,''' and ends in a medley of sharp 

 similar sounds, are almost the only 

 musical notes to be heard. 'J he caw- 

 ing of crows and the harsh cries of 

 Jays become more blatant, and seem 

 by contrast to emphasize the silence. 



Leaving the hills and starting to- 

 wards home we pass through a piece of 

 woodland with no underbrush used as 

 a pasture. Here are many Redstarts, 

 the Warbler with the chipping song 

 and a number of Black-throated, Blue 

 and Biackburuiau Warblers are visible. 

 Black and White Creepers are abund- 

 ant, not creeping but moving through 

 the treetops like the Redstart-, often 

 uttering their wiry song From one of 

 the maples, the favorite tree of the 

 Summer Tauagers, comes the ''j)eter- 

 put peier-p2it" of that species. 



In a small piece of woodland near by 

 almost level and covered with a dense 

 thicket in which the wild crab, goose- 

 berry and grape mingle with black- 

 berries and saplings, we hear a sound, 

 ''chip-it '■hip-it" coming from the dead 

 liml) -i a btech. Use your opera glass- 

 es l'i',)> Connecticuts, are they? I 

 saw mv lifst last year not twenty feet 

 from here. A favorite place it seems. 

 I never heard its note till now. 



But it's growing late and judging by 

 the sensations under our vests it's time 

 to go home and get breakfast. So we 



walk down the dirt road, where Dick- 

 cissels are singing in the little locu-^^ts 

 along the fences and the Orchard Ori- 

 oles are making music iu the apple 

 trees and through the village, where 

 the mellow notes of the Baltimore con- 

 trast with the chattering of the English 

 Sparro^v. Here is the street corner; I 

 go this way. Much obliged to you for 

 your company; will be glad to have you 

 go another time. Falco, 



Montgomery, Ohio. 



Notes on a Few Southern California 

 Birds. 



One of the most familiar of our birds 

 is the Arizona Hooded Oriole [Icterus 

 cucullalus nelsoni). There is scarcely a 

 country home in Southern California 

 without its clump of Banana Trees or 

 at least one or more Fan Palms and it 

 is iu these trees that "nelsofii" loves to 

 make his beautiful pensile nest strongly 

 woven from the fibres of the Fan Palm. 

 Davie says this Oriole lays from three 

 to five eggs, but in an examination of 

 more than twenty sets, this season's 

 collecting, I have never found more 

 than three eggs and in four cases only 

 two. On May 1, 1897, I took a nest 

 and three eggs from a banana tree 

 standing in a deserted Chinese vege- 

 table garden. Just one month later I 

 took a second set from the same tree 

 and on the thirtieth of June 1 might 

 have taken the third set had I been so 

 disposed. This experience brought me 

 to say that the bird will in all probabil- 

 ity raise at least three broods in a sea- 

 son if unmolested. The eggs are 

 creamy white, spotted and blotched 

 with brown and purple, varying iu 

 shape from those looking at a distance 

 like a typical Cliff Swallow {Petroche- 

 lido7i lunifrons) to those bearing a 

 strong resemblance to the egg of the 

 common Linnet (Carpodacus mexicanus 

 frontalis). The measurements of there 

 typical eggs are .85x.60, .'Jox.GO and 



