THE oolugist; 



37 



ently a dangerous positiou. but really 

 as safe a place as could be fouud. Not 

 being a devotee to egg collectiug at the 

 time, the nest remained undisturbed. 

 A few days later, while diiving over 

 this same road the laik was not Hush- 

 ed, but upon approaching upon foot, 

 the bird fluttered out. After that she 

 was seldom startled when a team and 

 conveyance passed over her, and I 

 think she reared her brood in perfect 

 safety. 



It has always seemed to me that a 

 Woodpecker on the plains was as bad 

 off as a duck out of a\ ater. I am a Jay- 

 hawker, so they .-^ay, born in the prairie 

 and windy State of Kansas, and yet the 

 Red-headed Woodpecker is one of my 

 oldest acquaintances. Fortunately for 

 him and others of his tribe, that trees, 

 fence posts and telegraph poles were 

 introduced into tliis .state. A farmer 

 was once telling me of a strange bird 

 that destroyed his fence posts, and 

 made holes in the roof of his house: " a 

 red-beaded critter that crawls up my 

 posts and leaves holes in 'em,"' he ex- 

 plained. In certain portions of the 

 country wherein trees are scarce, this 

 species delights to alight on the roofs 

 of houses and drum on the shingles, 

 much to the dismay of the inmates, who 

 frequently sally out with a gun, and 

 either destroy or frighten the ofTender. 

 The telegraph poles are also a favorite 

 resort, and I have seen a pair nestling 

 in a cavity of one. 



The good people of a certain viihige 

 in this notorious state, had built them- 

 selves a church, one with a wooden 

 steeple, green blinds, and painted a 

 beautiful white. Shortly after its com- 

 pletion, a host of Re«l-heads, wearied 

 from constant digging into dry fence- 

 posts and telegraph poles, took posses- 

 sion of that wooden steeple and to the 

 chagrin of the elders and deacons, 

 bored it so full of line round holes that 

 nothing was left of it but a resemb- 

 lance to a honeycomb. A stranger in 

 town made inquiry about this strange 



steeple, and received the information 

 that it was only a bit of fancy-work, 

 a new idea of the builders by which the- 

 church was given perfect ventilation, 

 but of late the Pi^reous had taken pos- 

 session on the steeple and gained en- 

 trance through the numerous holes. 

 Probably the stranger thought different 

 as he saw a Red-head emerge from a. 

 hole and drum lustily on the gilded 

 ball, high above the old wooden steeple. 

 W. E. LOUCKS. ; 



Nest and Eggs of Geothlypis maogilliorayi 



Locality, Northern Idaho, on an east- 

 ern mountain slope. In a pine forest. 

 The trees, in some places cwere too 

 thick for underbrush. In other places- 

 dense clumps of brush thrived. Then 

 again the woods would be open and the 

 ground carpeted with coarse grass. 

 The ne&t was located in a little canyon 

 that cut through such* a part of the 

 woods as the last mentioned. 



Tlie nest was placed in the fork of a 

 bush. It was about twenty inches from 

 the ground. The nest was composed 

 of light colored grasses. The dead 

 stems and blades were loosely woven 

 together. The structure was lined with 

 fine l>Iack roots. Among these were a 

 few black -hairs. The outside diameter 

 of the nest was 3.8 in.; the outside depth,. 

 ;3.3in.; the inside diameter, 2 in.: the in- 

 side depth 1.9 in. 



The nest contained four fresh eggs. 

 In color they are creamy white, with 

 an inclination to pinkish (they were de- 

 cidedly pinkish before 'preparation for 

 the cabinet), everywhere spotted with 

 pale lilac; the spots being largei- and 

 grouped in a ring about the larger end: 

 also cvcu-ywhere spotted with reddish 

 l)rown, lighter or darker: in a few 

 l)laces th(i brown is more thickly ap- 

 plied and the result is a browni.'^h 'black 

 blotch or scr:iwl._ The eggs measure in 

 inches, .T7.\..'.8, .78.\-,.J7, .r4x.58 and 

 .T6x.r,0 



The bird was taken and her identity 

 cfiiefully determined. 



J. O. Snyder. 



