THE YOUNG OOLOGIST. 



39 



bier ; set of four Pewee's eggs and a Bat, 

 and that ends the list for the present. 



E. L. B. 

 Durand, Wis. 



The following is a descripti.m of a War- 

 bler : Could you please identify it from the 

 poor description given? Length, five in- 

 ches, extent, 7.75 ; Tarsus' dark flesh 

 color. Toes, three inches front, one be- 

 hind ; bill black, rather stout for warbler ; 

 breast, abdomen, under tail coverts, white ; 

 throat and sides of head black ; tail dark 

 brown, two while tail feathers seen in 

 flying. Beak and head dark blue ; pri- 

 maries and secondaries biown. secondaries 

 edged with blue ; lertiaries uiostls' blue ; 

 wings longer than tail : rictal bristles very 

 indistinct, and not reaching beyond nos- 

 trils ; tarsus longer than longest toe. 



Saw an English Sparrow's nesi in the 

 fork of a large tree in this city. It was 

 rather a bulky affair and displayed no 

 neatness in form or construction. Think 

 it is rather unusual for them to build in 

 trees. 



I hear that the Ked Crossbill is rare 

 about Durand. Hear that it is probably 

 the commonest migrant in certain places. 

 They feed on hops near a brewery and, as 

 they have not left yet, they will probably 

 breed. The earliest date was March 23d, 

 when several flocks were seen. A number 

 of boys caught them under a bird-cage on 

 the end of a long pole, showing how- tame 

 they were. I caught three and kept them 

 alive. They act very much like a parrot 

 in confinement using their bill in climbing. 

 They ate bird seed, apple and pine cone 

 seeds. Here are a few more arrivals : 



March 22. Am. Gold Finches, Pine 

 Finches, Robin, Cedar birds. 



March 28. Blue birds. 



March 30. Song Sparrow. 



March 31. Snow birds (.Junco) Meadow 

 larks. 



April 1. Crow Blackbird, Purple Mar- 

 tin. 



April 4. White-bellied Swallow. House 

 Wren. 



April 23. Virginia Rail. Seen in the 

 city on the street. 



April 22. Phoebe bird. 

 April 30. Black-and-white Creeper. 

 May 5. A bird wave arrived consisting 

 of warblers. Among them were several 

 like the one described above, and several 

 black-and-white creepers. 

 May 6. Towhee buntings. 



C. A. K. 

 Jlilwaukee. 



Mourning Dove ; Burrowing Owl. 



The Mourning Dove has its home in many 

 parts of our country. It is a familiar bird 

 to almost every person in Southern Cali- 

 fornia. 



They generall}- stay in flocks, or in pairs. 

 I have seen flocks of them in the fields 

 about here, numbering nearlj' one hundred. 

 Sometime they are very tame ; while other 

 times they will not allow- a person to come 

 very near them. 



The nests, which are frail affairs, are 

 composed of dried grasses or roots. The 

 eggs are two in number and white, about 

 the size of the common pigeon's egg. It is 

 a wonder why the eggs do not roll off the 

 nest, which is not hollowed out. 



I have found three eggs in the same nest 

 several times, and once I found a nest 

 within one foot of another birds ; the Dove 

 nest was under the other, on the ground. 



The latest nest I found was on Septem- 

 ber 15th, 1884. and last Monday (March 

 39th,) 1 found a nest containing one dove 

 not quite all feathered. These birds re- 

 main with us during the winter. The 

 nests here may be found from April to 

 September. 



THE BIRROWIKG OWL, OR COQUIMBO. 



This species of owls may be seen sitting 

 on the brink of their burrows in the eve- 

 ning. On the appearance of an enemy 

 they will take a farewell look at it, and 

 hurry down their burrows, or fly a short 

 distance, alight, and then stare at the object 

 of disturbance. These ow-ls maj- be seen 

 from the middle of March to the latter part 

 of autumn. They live in deserted squirrel 

 holes, etc. The nest is sometimes made 

 with a few grasses, but the droppings of 



