THE OOLOGIST. 



April 18. Four Pied-billed Grebe on 

 the pond. 



April 20 Robins, Blackbirds (Bronzed 

 Grackle). and Brown Thrushes begin- 

 ning to build their nests. 



April 24 Saw the first Catbird of the 

 season. Also the first Baltimore Oriole. 

 The woods are full of the regular sum- 

 mer birds. 



April 25. Observed a Scarlet Tana- 

 ger, the first one I ever saw in this vi- 

 cinity. It is a very beautiful bird. 



April 27. Saw a pair of Kingbirds, 

 or "Bee Martins," the first of the sea- 

 son. I think they travel in solitary 

 pairs (It is likely that this observation 

 will hold in the majority of instances. 



p. m. s.); 



April 28. A Robin'* nest, which was 

 commenced on th" 20 h. was finished 

 and ready for use by th 3 25t,h To day 

 the first egg was laid, Also found a 

 Brown Thrush's nest with one egg al- 

 ready laid. Wishing to try an experi- 

 ment, I put the Thrush's ejzg in place of 

 the Robin's ejarg, but the Robins desert- 

 ed the nest. 



April 29 Saw a flock of Cedar birds 

 flying about this morning, the last day 

 I noted them (added later.) Also saw 

 a Ground Robin, or Towhee. Also a 

 Green Heron along the creek. 



April 30. Found an egg of a Blue- 

 bird in a nest in a hollow prst along 

 the railroad. (Another example of full 

 data, P. M S.) 



Mry 3. Took two eggs of Bluebird 

 from a nest in another hollow post 

 along the railroad. Thore were five 

 eggs in the nest. The birds kept on in- 

 cubating, and I had the pb^pure of 

 knowing that the remaining eggs 

 hatched out and the young went forth 

 safely . 



May 9. Bobolinks appeared in a low 

 pasture south of town, and remained 

 around for about two weeks. The pas- 

 ture is low and wet, having a ditch run- 

 ning across it. The Bobolink sits upon 

 the ground or on a tuft of grass, and 



utters its jingling song, and when 

 alarmed it flies up, singing a* it flies. 



May 18. A boy in town found a 

 Mocking Bird's nest in a hed?e, con- 

 taining four eggs. The egg is a dark 

 grayish color, spotted with brown. I 

 have seen several pairs flying about, 

 but I did not know that they bre.d 

 around here. 



May 24 Camped out on Sugar creek . 

 We found a nest of the Jaybird (Blue 

 Jay ) containing six eggs, with embryos 

 nearly developed. 



About dark the Whip-poor-wills be- 

 gan to utter 1 their notes, which sound 

 nearly like those of the Quail (Bob- 

 white,) repeated rapidly half a dozen or 

 more times. They kept it up until al- 

 most midnight, when they ceased until 

 about an hour before dawn; then they 

 began again, and kept it up until day- 

 light. 



Found a Wood Thrusts nest, con- 

 taining two eggs of its own and one of 

 the Cowbird's, which is a very pale 

 grayish blue, spotted with brown. The 

 eggs were warm when found, and an 

 unknown bird was sitting upon the 

 nest. (Identification, surel P. M. S.) 

 Robins and Brown Thrashers have 

 hatched and reared one brood, and 

 some of them are preparing to rear an- 

 other brood. 



Field Notes From Manitoba. 



NESTING OF THE LOON. 



It was while reading the notes on the 

 Loon, in John Macoun's catalogue of 

 Canadian birds, Part I , that I decided 

 to write a few notes on this species and 

 present them to the readers of the 

 Oologist. This bird is fairly numer- 

 ous in my locality, and although I have 

 not had as good opportunities to ob- 

 serve it in its naiive haunts, as the 

 species I last wrote about, I would like 

 to contribute a few notes regarding its 

 habits distribution and identification. 



It is only during the last three seasons 



