THE OOLOOIST. 



165 



Votten. The opening had been enhirored 

 ^ little, and the bottom lined with a 

 quantity of moss and tine strips of yel- 

 low birch bark. The eggs are of a chalky 

 white, with a rather rough surface, and 

 are all more or less stained from con- 

 tact with the nest. Incubation was so 

 far advanced that I had great ditKculty 

 in l)lowing them The measurements 

 are as follows: 1.18x1., 1.19x1.03. l.lTx 

 1.02, 1.21x1.03. 1.23x1. The Owl was 

 ■quite tame, allowing me to get a good 

 view of her bill as she looked at me 

 from the hole, the bill being the most 

 i^rominent distinguishing feature l)e- 

 "tween the Saw Whet and the Richard- 

 son's, which are otherwise very much 

 alike. In the Saw Whet it is black and 

 in the Richai'dson's, yellow. On 

 rapping the tree the Owl left the nest 

 and Hew about twenty yards alighting 

 •on a small dead limb of a spruce, ap- 

 parently having no more difficulty in 

 tlying tiirough the thick wooils in the 

 ilaytime than in the night. She agalu 

 allowed me to approach to within about 

 fifteen feet of her, linally Hying oflf into 

 the thick woods out of sight. The lin- 

 ing of this nest may possibly have been 

 placed th(n-e by a squirrel as it is the 

 •same kind of material that is used by 

 that animal in making its nest, and 

 Tthey ofU^n select an old Flicker's hole 

 for a home. 



May 21, 1892 I found a nest of the 

 Red-breasted Nuthatch {Sitta canadcn- 

 <iis). It was excavated in a small pop- 

 lar stub about twentj' feet from the 

 ground and contained six fresh eggs. 

 The cavity was lined with a consider- 

 able quantity af fine cedar bark with a 

 few strips of l)irch bark mixed in and 

 when removed from tlie hole formed 

 quite a little nest itself. The eggs are 

 white, thickly covered with diilerent 

 sized spots of reddisii brown, looking 

 very much like those of the Black-ca))- 

 l)ed Chickadee, but an^ larger, as tlie 

 following measurement shows: .63x47, 

 .64.\48, .64x49, -62x47. .G3.\47, .66x47. 

 I was forced to shoot tliis bird to make 



sure of her identity. Thi? is the third 

 nest of the Nuthatch that I have found, 

 but the tirst that contained eggs. The 

 otlier two were opened on June 5, 1884 

 and both contained young. 



Howard H. McAdams, 

 Oak Bay, N. B. 



The Chestnut-sided "Warbler. 



Dcndra'ca ])ennsylva7iica. 



Perhaps one of the most interesting 

 of the wond warblers, which inhabits 

 this section is the Chestnut-sided. The 

 leaders arrive from the south about 

 May 5th, and a few days later they are 

 here C7i iiuisse. Then their cheery song 

 is frequently reiterated from the tree- 

 tops, and occasionally when they are 

 annoyed, they utter the peculiar note, 

 which has been happily likened to the 

 sound produced by striking two pebbles 

 together. My experience has taught 

 me to look for these birds in abundance, 

 in, or in the vicinity of .swampy woods. 

 They are not, however strictly confined 

 to trees, as their appellation (Dendroeca) 

 implies, but are foimd in bushes, and 

 open land, but in lesser numliers. 



During the migrating season when 

 the numl)er of residents is swelled by 

 the l)irds of passage, it is sometimes 

 dillicult to distiuguisli the specific char- 

 acteristics of the Avarblers; especially 

 when they frequent tall trees, and do 

 not utter their respective songs; but the 

 species under considei'ation is a notable 

 exception. I can usually' I'ecognize this 

 bird, when against the sun-lit sky he is 

 apparently black, and devoid of color. 

 His silhouette has .some peculiarity, 

 wliich estal>lishes his identit3', and pro- 

 tects him from the collector's gun. 



May 21st a few years ago, my atten- 

 tion was attracted by a pair of these 

 l)irds around a tangle of briars, grape 

 vines and bushes. By diligently Avatch- 

 ing them, I di.scovered the proposed site 

 of their domicih% which was al)out two 

 feet from tlie ground, and in- a dense 

 mass of briars. 



