THM OOLOOIBT 



55 



your readers may know of cases. My 

 getting up frightened it away before 

 it had a chance to do so. This is the 

 only time I have ever heard of wrens 

 acting so. 



J. R. McLead. 

 London, Ont. 



Unusual Nesting Sites. 



During the Spring of 11112, I was in 

 the field a good deal and consequently 

 came across a number of unusual 

 places where the birds were nesting. 

 The first that came under my notice 

 was that cf a Purple Grackle contain- 

 ing five eggs. I had noticed a pair of 

 these birds continually around a large 

 telegraph pole and finally, on the 26th 

 of Apr^l, I climbed the pole and dis- 

 covered the nest. It was firmly built 

 between a cross beam and the pole, 

 and considering its bulk was surpris- 

 ingly well concealed. The pole was 

 located beside a large grove of trees 

 and I was surprised that the birds had 

 built where they did. 



Several weeks later on the 8th of 

 May, I found another nest of the Pur- 

 ple Grackle containing four eggs lo- 

 cated in a hole in a dead tree. I had 

 seen some straws sticking through a 

 crack in the wood and thinking that 

 it was an English Sparrow's nest, I 

 climbed up and was amazed to find 

 that it was that of a Purple Grackle. 

 The nest was built but fifteen feet 

 from the ground. 



On the 5th of May, I came across a 

 Cardinal's nest containing two newly 

 hatched young and an egg, located to 

 my great surprise in a large brush 

 pile. This is one of the few nests 

 that I have ever found of these birds, 

 not built in a grape vine. The bird 

 bad concealed its nest better than it 

 probably susi)ected for had I not seen 

 the female flying out, I would never 

 have thought of looking there. 



The most peculiar position chosen 



by a Yellow Warbler that I have ever 

 seen I found on the 22d of May when 

 I located a nest of this bird contain- 

 ing two eggs built on the top of an old 

 Gold Finch's nest. The nest was 

 placed in a small locust tree about 

 twenty feet up and was entirely con- 

 cealed from the ground, being found 

 by seeing one of the birds fly from 

 it. Why it chose such a position I do 

 not understand, but if they did so for 

 protection, they certainly chose a good 

 position. 



On the 28th of July, as I was pass- 

 ing a small maple tree. I noticed a 

 large nest in one of its crotches and 

 on investigating I was amazed to find 

 that it was that of a Brown Thrasher 

 containing one egg. It was built about 

 fifteen feet from the ground and is the 

 highest nest of this species that I have 

 ever seen. 



Thos. D. Burleigh. 

 Pittsburg, Pa. 



Late Nesting of the Common Crow. 

 On May 30, 1910, at Avalon, Cape 

 May County, New Jersey, on Seven 

 Mile Beach, I collected a set of four 

 fresh Crow's eggs from a nest about 

 35 feet up in the top of a holly in the 

 forest on a sand dune, which is the 

 latest I have ever taken eggs of Cor- 

 vus brachyrhynchos. In the same 

 woods I examined another Crow's nest 

 of this species containing four or five 

 small naked young. This nest was 

 in a cedar, 30 feet from the ground 

 and ten feet out on a horizontal limb. 

 The birds were flushed from both 

 nests and identified by their sweet 

 voices. We also found young Crows 

 on the wing in this forest, a family 

 of three or four birds; and I examined 

 a new Fish Crow's nest in it, situated 

 about 35 feet up in a cedar top, show- 



