THE OOLOGIST. 



215. 



eggs and myself had a hard time keep- 

 ing our phiees, the nest was a very poor- 

 ly arranged one and nearly flat, it was 

 composed of stieks lined Avith grass, 

 leaves and corn luisks. The eggs which 

 were two in unmber were similar to the 

 last only smaller, by this time we were 

 a mile and a half from home, we walked 

 about a mile further without seeing any- 

 thing when I found a nest of the Red- 

 shouldered Hawk in a small maple tree 

 the nesl was onlj' 37 feet from the ground 

 and contained three dirty loojing eggs 

 Avith very little color in fact it coidd 

 hardly be called anything but ground 

 markings, these differed from the others 

 as they were quite well advanced in in- 

 cubation while the others were nearlj'^ 

 fresh. We got home about 7.30 pm, hav- 

 ing taken fourteen eggs thirteen first 

 class and one second class egg, which is 

 considered a very good haul around 

 here. 



J. E. Houseman, 

 Aylmer Out. 



A California Collecting Ground. 



I have read with pleasure the accounts 

 of collecting trips recorded in the Oolo- 

 GIST and, thinking that other of your 

 readers might be interested in such ar- 

 ticles, I have decided to give a descrip- 

 tion of my favorite collecting ground. 



The place spoken of is a canon about 

 three miles fx'om town, among the nu- 

 merous foothills which surround the 

 valley. It is about four miles long and 

 altnough nowhere very steep, contains 

 many large boulders and rocks and at 

 places its sides are quite steep. The 

 trees are mostly button-wood, or sj'ca- 

 more, with willow and water-mootic a- 

 long the l)()tt*)m where there flows a 

 small dirty stream of water. There are 

 also a large number of sunflower bushes 

 in wliich a great many nests may be 

 found 



As the canon ccmtains many points of 

 interest, interesting to one who has 



collected there at least, avc will enter at 

 the lower end and jiass up the canon. 

 For the first half of a mile it is quite 

 broad and the ground is coverod Avith a 

 thick groAvth of grass and clover. There 

 are no trees here Avith the exception of 

 willoAvs, hut the large sunlloAver bushes 

 furnish nesting places for the himiming- 

 birds, the nests being i)laced among the 

 dead leaves and therefore hard to liud. 



Here too is an old stump surrounded 

 by sprouts where a Road-runner had 

 her nest last April. 



As Ave pass along, the sj'camores groAv 

 more abundant and here is the home of 

 the Arizona Hooded Oriole. Yes, hero 

 is Avhere Mr. Wilber and I took a beau- 

 tiful set of five. The nest was placed 

 eighteen feet from the ground among 

 the bi'anches of a slender sycamore and 

 Avas composed of long, i^artiallj' dried 

 grasses finely Avoven togethei", lined 

 Avith a small quantity of cotton. These 

 birds are quite common as also are the 

 Bullock's Oriole, both of which may be 

 seen with their gaudj' coats gayly ilit- 

 ing from tree to tree uttering their loud 

 calls or scolding us as Ave pass. 



We noAv come to a good sized boulder 

 with a large opening three feet from the 

 ground. This is Avhere I had taken 

 beautiful sets is '90 and '91 of the Canon 

 Wren and this year decided to catch the 

 bii-d. So I slipped up and quietly 

 brought my hand doAvu over an empty 

 nest. I learned afterward that anotlier 

 collector had gotten ahead of me. The 

 nest Avas placed on a twelve-inch plat- 

 form of small sticks and composed most- 

 ly of fur and feathers, forming as soft 

 and comfortable a bed for the "chicks'* 

 as any I have examined. The bird, 

 Avhich I saw in '91, was a very shy little 

 felloAV Avith ])ure Avliite breast and red- 

 dish back and under parts, spotted a- 

 bove AA'ith Aviiitish dots. 



In a small side-canon is a large, Avhite 

 stump Avliich I once ascended to oi)en up 

 Avhat I supposed Avas a Flicker's dom- 

 eciie. On the w ay up I had tiu; i)k'asuru 



