164 



THE OOLOGIST. 



Those Horned Grebes Again- 



If Mr. Swales will read my article 

 carefully he will find that I wrote from 

 my own observation, and do not deny 

 their breeding at the Flats as I am 

 aware they are credited with so doing, 

 but I have never seen them in the 

 marshes of Detroit River where the 

 Thick- billed is common, and it was di- 

 rectly to those marshes I referred and 

 he stated they "were abundant." I 

 took four sets of Loon's eggs in the 

 Fighting Island marsh, but I would not 

 call the bird abundant as he does on 

 taking several sets of Hox'ned Grebe in 

 the same mai'sh (/"he is not mistaken in 

 the identity of the bird. 



W. A. Davidson, 

 Detroit, Mich. 



The Purple Finch in Broome County, N. Y. 



The position that the Purple Finch 

 occupies in the (ivi-fauna of southern 

 New York; is a rather peculiar one. 

 Primarilj" he is a summer resident, but 

 lie also combines something of the mi- 

 grant and winter visitant in his nature. 



Seldom earlier or later than the first 

 week in April the earliest songs of the 

 Puri)le Finch arc heard in this locality. 

 In a week or more thereafter, the birds 

 become common, and for a time the 

 woods, orchards, dooryards and trees 

 along our city streets ring with their 

 cheery notes. 



Yet these birds are not the first of 

 their kind to arrive. Several weeks 

 •earlier one may sometimes see a small 

 Hock in the evergreens or catch a few 

 tentive, warbling notes, launched on 

 the frosty air from some perch in the 

 treetops. It would seem from this, that 

 if the hardier individuals do not brave 

 the rigors of our winter, they certainly 

 love to visit u.s when the weather is 

 propitious. 



After the migratory birds have spent 

 some weeks of song Avith us, the major- 

 ity disappear— probably going farther 



north to breed. Although their food 

 oi'dinary consists of various seeds, buds 

 and berries, they show a decided pre- 

 ference for the stamens of fruit trees, 

 aud perhaps follow the supplj' north- 

 ward as it decreases here. The bird^ 

 left behind occasionally select a site in 

 the oi'chard and build a rather bulky 

 nest of weed stalks, grasses, horse-hair, 

 etc. Usually, however, they choose ao 

 evergreen for a nesting place. There 

 seems to be some occult connection be- 

 tween the Purple Finches aud evei'green 

 trees. Where these trees abound, as in 

 our cemeteries, the birds hold high car- 

 nival all summer, building their nests 

 close to the trunks at some height from 

 the ground. The birds apparently like 

 the society of man, the dooryard being 

 one of their favorite haunts 



The eggs, four or five in number, are 

 of a beautiful shade of green, and 

 speckled with black and brown, chiefly 

 at the larger end. In appearance they 

 closely resemble the eggs of the (Ship- 

 ping Sparrow, though much larger. 



The opinion prevails in some quar- 

 ters that the Purple Finch is a bird of 

 the North, aud is said to be most abun- 

 dant in Nova Scotia. In New England 

 the bird is a common breeder and it 

 will doubtless be found to summer in 

 the greater part of Pennsylvania and 

 New York. 



WiLLARD N. ClUTE. 



Biughamton, N. Y. 



Two Rare Nests- 



On May 16, 1892 I found a nest of 

 the Saw Whet Owl [Nyctala acadica) 

 containing five eggs. The tree in which 

 the nest was placed was an old dead 

 poplar, which stood near a brook in a 

 dark, dense piece of green woods, near 

 this place. The nest its self was about 

 twelve feet from the ground, and had 

 been excavated by a Flicker, probably 

 six or eight years ago, as the cavity 

 looked very old and the wood was vex'y 



