12 



THB OOLOaiST. 



No. 2 for 1906. The parent bird was 

 setting and Incubation was begun in 

 the three eggs that rested on a few 

 green leaves in a nest that did not 

 differ essntially from the others that 

 have been discovered. • There was al- 

 so a gopher, apparently fresihly kill- 

 ed, in the nest and the eggs were 

 somewhat daubed with mud, showing 

 that the bird had been in a habit of 

 alighting on the ground. Unlike the 

 owners of the other nest, these birds 

 made no demonstration and the dark, 

 sooty one that was occupying the 

 nest, left quietly when I prepared to 

 climb and circling higher and higher 

 finally seemed to hang almost mo- 

 tionless in the sky, watching opera- 

 tions from far above. 



The seven eggs from these two 

 nests have a white ground color with 

 a pale bluish tinge and are spotted 

 and blotched with brown, each egg 

 Tjcing marked differently. One of 

 them has a small wreath of blotches 

 around the smaller end while numer- 

 ous small splashes of 'brown are scat- 

 tered generally over the surface and 

 several pale lavender shell marks can 

 1)6 seen. 



As I have already noted, each of 

 these nests contained green leaves 

 for a lining and I might add that four 

 nests' of Wn. Red-tail and one of 

 Cooper Hawk recently examined all 

 had a similar lining with the excep- 

 tion of one of Red-'tail wihich had sev- 

 eral bunches of green cottonwood 

 berries in place of leaves. 



In conclusion I would state that not 

 far from where I had seen the hawks 

 catching mice, there was a farmyard 

 with many small chickens, some of 

 which often wandered far from the 

 house but their owner, a very observ- 

 ing man, informed me that he had 

 never known them to be molested by 

 the hawks. One or two other farm- 

 ers stated that they sometimes lost 

 many young chickens during the sum- 



mer but no one had see the hawks 

 carrying them away so I am inclined 

 to believe that some other cause was 

 responsible for their disappearance. 

 On the whole the Swainson Hawks 

 are of inestimable value to the farm- 

 ers of this county on account of the 

 number of mice and gophers they de- 

 stroy and are therefore worthy of the 

 fullest protection. 



John G. Tyler, 

 Fresno, Calif. 



The Crested Flycatcher on Strange 

 Grounds. 



RICHARD C. HARLOW. 



Probably all the readers of the 

 Oologist are familiar with the nest- 

 ing and the 'beautiful eggs of this in- 

 teresting species. I was of a like opin- 

 ion until one day, early in June, 1904, 

 I discovered a nest built in the rain 

 spout of a barn. The birds entered 

 through a hole just above the nest 

 and certainly seemed secure until a 

 heavy rain storm came spreading 

 devastation and snakeskin through- 

 out the length of pipe. 



No doubt such instances are rare, 

 but still they go to show that we had 

 best be conservative in our state- 

 ments concerning 'birds and not mere- 

 ly write, "Nest always in a hole of a 

 tree," without a second thought. 



We Note in the current issue of the 

 "West" an advertisement of Archeao- 

 logical specimens by one Wm. P. Ar- 

 nold of Wakefield, R. I. 



We suspect this is none other but 

 W. P. Arnold, erstwhile of Peacedale, 

 R. I. 



Should this prove to be the case we 

 advise prospective purchasers to play 

 a safe game.— EDITOR. 



