THE OOLOGIST. 



113 



sliadt's of reddish-brown and oi-casion- 

 :illy a s\)oX of hlack, is jn'obaldy the 

 Yellow Warbhn-. 



H. S. H., Phelps, N. Y. — 1. Tlie iiest- 

 iiiir of the Red anil White-shonldered 

 l-51ai-kl>ird or Tri-eolor Blaekhird of tiie 

 Paeitie eoast, is similar to that of the 

 Ked-Winged, the nest being plaeed 

 in tlags or alder-bushes near water. 



•^. Y'our sparrow of a general 

 lirownisji eolor and pateh of ehestnut 

 on the head, building a nest of hair in a 

 busli, ami laying blue eggs spotted 

 lightly at tlie large end with brown is 

 douljtless the Chipping SjKirrow. 

 Early nests of this speeies are often 

 j)laeed (>n or near the ground 



3. The nests and eggs of the differ- 

 ent Plovers closely I'esemble each other 

 as do the birds themselves. The Kill- 

 «leer may i)e known from all (jther 

 Plovers by the ttro black bands on 

 throat and breast, and by its cinna- 

 jiion-cohu'ed rump. 



A. P. B., La Moille, la.— Your bird 

 liuilding its nest under a bridge or in 

 an old bam, whose eggs are white 

 spotted sparingly at the large end with 

 l)rown, is the Phfel)e. 



Note. — Queries not noticed in tliis 

 issue -will be answered in the next num- 

 ber. 



Our Monthly Mixture. 



H. 



M., Quechee, Vt. 

 having .shot a Mockingbird 

 place on April 30th, last. 



rei)orts 

 at that 



Ernest H. Short, Chili, N. Y. relates 

 the taking of an egg of the Prairie Hor- 

 ned Lai'k which measured 1.01 x .711, an 

 nnusually large i:'gg for that species. 



On May 6th, Allie Hutchinson, of 

 (iaines, N.' Y'. found a nest of the Song 

 S))arrow placed in a cavity of an apple 

 tree, ten feet from the ground. 



Letsou Balliett, of Des Moines, la. 

 reports a nest f)f the Great Horned 

 Owl, the contents of which were won- 

 ilerfully graded in size and incubation. 

 First was a young Owl. Then five 

 eggs, which, in incubation varied uni- 

 formly from highly incubated to per- 

 fectlj" fresh. Also there wa.s a perfect 



gradation in size, the most highly incu- 

 bated egg being the largest, and the 

 fresh one being the smallest, while the 

 size of the others varied directlj' as the 

 stage of incubation. 



Charles C. Trembly, of Utica, N. Y""., 

 writes: "Have just nn-eived, from Mr. 

 H. L. Callawaj-. of Orion, 111., a set of 

 nine (9) eggs of the American Crow, 

 collected April 7th of this year. The 

 eggs present no great variation in size, 

 or color. Sets of six are not unusual, 

 i)Ut I should call nine either a very 

 li^rge, or an "assisted" set; by which I 

 mean that the nest was probably occu- 

 ))ied by two pair of Crows." 



We clip the following from a May- 

 ville. N. Y. paper: 



"Almon E Kibbe, Taxidermist, of 

 this village, has just comi)leted the 

 mounting of a Florida alligator, for Mr. 

 Frank H. Lattin, of Albion, N. Y''., 

 which will be on exhibition at Chautau- 

 qua, during the coming sunuuer. The 

 reptile measui-es a trifle over eleven 

 feet in length and must have been any- 

 thing but a pleasant neighbor in its 

 native slough in the land of HoAvers." 



Frank Viele, of Ballston Springs, N. 

 Y. relates an extraordinary occurrence 

 in connection with a Robin. He writes: 



"On May 2nd, while out collecting, 

 I saw a curious sight. A Robin had 

 built her nest in a tree near a Crow's 

 nest, and the Crows bothered her so 

 that she built a nest about twentj' rod.s 

 from the old one, and I saw her carry 

 the four eggs in her claws to the other 

 nest." 



Homer J. Knickerbocker, of Elba, N. 

 Y. writes: 



"May 3rd, I shot a bird, Avhose liack, 

 head, wings and tail were olive color or 

 yellowish green, with a small tuft of 

 reddish yellow feathers on the back of 

 its head. The thi'oat was Avhite, 

 streaked with black not unlike a 

 Meadowlark's. The breast and belly 

 were white; the bill was about three- 

 fourths of an inch long and closely re- 

 sembled a Woodpecker's. Shot it in 

 the act of singing. If this is an Olive- 

 backed Thrush, please give me credit 

 for finding two nests last year. The 

 nests Avere in small saplings, about 

 seven feet up, composed of small twigs, 

 shreds of bark, etc. Length of nest, 



