THE OOLOGIST. 



213 



tossed the stone out into the mill race. 

 Early in September, when the tele- 

 graph wires are linetl with Swallows 

 ami its cousins begin to come down 

 from the north, it joins them and with- 

 out waiting to see the colors of Aut- 

 umn's sunsets reflected on the forest 

 leaves it departs for the regions where 

 where the insects never die. 



Geo. H. Gray. 

 Baltimore, Md. 



The Prothonotary Warbler. 



This is quite a common bird in the 

 bottoms along the Illinois river. 



The bright cadmium yellow of the 

 head and neck render it easily distin- 

 guishable at quite a distance. 



The birds may usually be seen near 

 the surface of the water either on drift- 

 wood or on the bushes. 



A typical nesting ground for this 

 active little Avarbler is in a willow 

 swamp n'hichis covered with water and 

 contains many dead willow stubs per- 

 forated with woodjipckers in many pla- 

 ces, In some of these holes, an old 

 broken out one preferabl}", you will find 

 the nest. Made of moss and grass lined 

 with fine grass. A sharp blow or two 

 on the stump will usually .scai"e the old 

 bird ofl' though often she will leave be- 

 fore you see the nest. They will usualy 

 fly away as if having no further con- 

 cern for the nest I never saw but one 

 pair "show figiit" The nests are usually 

 so close to the water that a raise of a 

 foot or two will drown them out. This 

 I know to my sorrow as I Jiad a large 

 series of nests which I was "counting 

 on" when a sudden raise of about three 

 feet in the river covered them all. 



The nesting season lasts from the last 

 of May till the middle of July. The 

 first clutch is usually deposited in the 

 latter part of May and first of June. 



The eggs are from 4 to C rarely 7 in 

 the first set and if accident li(;falls them 

 from 2 to 4 in the 2nd and :3i(l clutches. 



Tney are a fine glossy cream color 



dotted and blotched with chestnut red. 

 There is a great variation in color- 

 ation. The eggs are from, .70to,.74x.52 

 to .58 of an inch. 



The nests ai'e nearly alwa3's over wa- 

 ter, in any kind of an old stump, usually 

 willow. 



Russell M. Frisbey Jr. 

 Sparlaud, 111. 



Notes from Bexar Co., Texas. 



March 27,1892. Found a nest of the 

 Caracara containing two eggs, which 

 were nearly hatched. The nest was a 

 large platform of weeds aljout thirty 

 feet from the gi'ound in a live oak. 



April 14th. Took a set of four eggs 

 of the Texan Woodpecker. The nesting 

 cavity was a foot deep in the dead limb 

 of a hackberry tree. 



April 22nd. O. A. W. and myself 

 found a set of two eggs of the Caracara. 



The nest was made of sticks lined 

 with weeds and was formerly the pro- 

 perty of a Harris's Hawk. 



The next day in going by ti»e nest from 

 Avhich I took the first set of Caracara's 

 eggs we saw a bird of the same species 

 leave the nest. My friend climbed to 

 the nest and announced two eggs which 

 I suppose were laid by the same bird 

 that laid the first set. 



May 7th. Collected a set of two eggs 

 of the Harris's Hawk. The nest was 

 made of sticks and for a lining there 

 was a bed of green oak leaves. 



May 20th. look a set of five eggs of 

 the Tufted Tit in a gate-post near a 

 house. The nest was nothing but Rab- 

 bit hair and a huge piece of snake skin. 



June 4th. Found a set of Bell's Vireo 

 eggs. The nest was a neat little struc- 

 ture composed of leaves and fine grass- 

 es with a few hairs interwoven and was 

 suspended from a small Inauch in a 

 clump of Inisiies. 



June lOlh. ' I'Ound a .set of two Cara- 

 cara's. The nest was comi)osed of 

 sticks with a few small weeds for lining. 



There was a large hole in the middle 

 of the nest with a lew sticks laid across 

 it on which the eggs were laid so that 

 they were plainly seen from below. 

 A. H. VV. I>JoKTON. 

 Bexar Co, Texas. 



