THE OOLOGIST. 



55 



white wing-spots. The secondaries are 

 white, as I could plainly see. 



July 30. Saw a Blue Heron on 

 Crane, s pond, about live o'clock p. m. 

 When it liew up on my approach, a 

 number of Blackbirds (Bronzed Graek- 

 le) began to fly down upon it, and to 

 tight it. When it aligh ed they let it 

 alone. 



Also saw some Green Heron on 

 Sugar Ci'eek. 



Blackbirds are beginning to flock 

 together. 



August 2. Again I saw the albino 

 Robin flying about. 



August 22. A large flock of Barn 

 Swallows are roosting in a large hollow 

 cottonwuod near Crane's pond. (This 

 note doubtless refers to the Chimney 

 Swift. P. M. S.) Largest flock I ever 

 saw. 



Also saw a very large flock of Turtle 

 Doves- They were on the edge of a 

 pond near a cornfield. Most that I 

 ever saw at one time. 



Nighthawks have been flying about 

 for a week They begin to fly over 

 for about an hour before dark, and also 

 fly about an hour after day begins to 

 dawn. P. M. Silloway. 



The Catbird's Nest. 



For several years past a pair of Cat- 

 birds (Oaleoscoptes carolinensis) have 

 nested in a hedge of Osage Orange near 

 the home of the writer. The present 

 season, 1899, they succeeded so well in 

 hiding their nest that for a long time I 

 was unable to find it. They frequented 

 the bouse morning, noon and night and 

 sang me their sweetest songs, but, watch 

 them as I would, I could not discover 

 their treasures. However, on the 8th 

 of July about noon, while at some dis- 

 tance from the hedge, I saw the male 

 enter it, carrring a large earth worm. 

 He hopped along from bush to bush. 

 I followed cautiously, and about fifty 



feet from where he entered the hedge I 

 found the nest. 



The nest contained one young bird 

 almost fledged. Both parents objected 

 vociferously to my intrusion. The fe- 

 male had been near guarding her nest, 

 so I made my stay short, but kept an 

 eye on the nest during the next week. 

 When the birds were done with it, I 

 lifted it from its concealment to study 

 its structure. 



The nest was not built in the fork of 

 a limb, but rested on the side of an 

 Osage shrub inclined at an angle of 

 forty-five degrees and was supported 

 by several strong contiguous twigs. 

 The nest itself was of peculiar struct- 

 ure. It consisted of two distinct parts. 

 The first was formed mostly of the 

 small thorny twigs of the Osage Orange 

 {Madura aurantiaca) without doubt 

 gathered from the hedge in which it 

 was built. Interwoven among these 

 things was a common wrapping string 

 of considerable length. On the upper 

 portion were several pieces of grape- 

 vine bark This first part of the nest 

 was completely covered with a sheet of 

 heavy manila paper. This was all in 

 one piece and was so shaped as to con- 

 form nicely to the outer margins of the 

 nest. 



The second part, or nest proper, was 

 built almost entirely of excelsior. This 

 was lined with the tine root fibers of 

 some species which I was not able to 

 identify. The nest was well made and 

 exhibited no small degree of ingenuity. 

 W. Henry Sheak, 

 Peru, Ind. 



Peculiar Nesting Sites. 



One of the most peculiar nesting sites 

 that has come under my observation 

 was one of the Parula Warbler. The 

 nest was built in an old nest of the 

 Wood Thrush, that was built in a beech 

 about twenty feet high, and had been 

 used the previous year by a pair of 



