140 



THE OOLOGIST. 



lacing Ijraiiclies of two young oak trees 

 lifteen foot from the ground, sitUMted 

 on a lonely hillside in the woods, at 

 least a quarter of a mile from the water, 

 or marshes; this set contained live 

 fresh eggs. 



0:i May 8th, "while among the 

 pim's, ' I to(jk two more sets; the tirst 

 one in a nest of more substantial build, 

 phiced in the fork of a small pine 

 eighteen feet high, on a liill overlook- 

 ing the river. It contained five eggs 

 Mdiieh were in the first stages of incu- 

 hation. Then in a large pine nearly 

 tsvcuty-five feet up, in a nest placed on 

 the end of a Viraiich, I found a set of 

 three, fresh. 



The nest of the Green Herou. I liiid, 

 s most always made of material from 

 the tree in wliieh the i)ird builds. 



While e()l!ecting in May, I found a 

 queer set which consisted of an egg 

 each of the Cardinal Grosbeak, and 

 Song Sparrow. They wt re in a Cardi- 

 nal's nest, both fre-Ii. 



W. Allison Mekkitt, 

 Washington, D. C. 



Back ia their Old Haunts. 



it is willi ])leasvu-e that I am aldi' to 

 leport the unusual nuuil;er of insectiv- 

 orous Ijirds lireeding lieie this summer. 

 On one li'.iiidred acres of land situated 

 ill two plots, one of G3 acres on the 

 sound and another of 40, two miles in- 

 land, all ill the city limits of New York 

 City, I tind the following iiirds: 



Kol)ins (piite plentiful. Wood Thrush 

 ur pairs, Wilson's Thrush common, 

 Catliird three pairs, IMeadow Lark five 

 pairs, Red-wing Blackbii'd about fifteen 

 pairs. Purple Grackle se\en pairs. Cow- 

 birds three individuals. Song Sparrow 

 plentiful, Ciiipping- Sparrow a few, 

 Baltimore Oriole (me pair, Orchard 

 Oiiole one jiair. King Bird three pairs, 

 Rcd-<\yed Vireo f.nir i)airs, Summer 

 Red-bird one pair, Yellow-shafted Flick- 

 er six pairs, Yellow-billed cuckoo on*. 



pair, (ireat Crested Flyeateher two 

 pairs, Pewee two jiairs, Crows com- 

 moll, Screecli-owl one pair, House 

 Wren two pairs. Spotted Sandpiper 

 quite common, Green Heron two pairs. 

 Night Heron one pair, Barn Swallow 

 plentiful. I attributt' the return of the 

 birds to the scarcity of the Englisli 

 Sparrow; the blizzard of '88 killed a 

 great many, but whj* they have de- 

 creased since last summer I do not 

 know. Last fall I trapped about 4i)() 

 and used them for trap shooting, but 

 this year there are but five pairs breed- 

 ing on my property, and there ai'e veiw 

 few in the neighborhood. I would like 

 to see notes from other sei-lions, saying 

 whether the English Sparrow is on the 

 increase or decrease, and I iio))e they 

 will re])ort llie latter. W. 1. S., 



New York City. 



Sialia-Mus. 



I \vA\v to re])ort the (pieer nesting of 

 a pair of Bluebirds. On June 1st while 

 collecting in a marsh, I saw a Blueljird 

 go into a hole in the toj) of an olil 

 stump. When it came out I went ami 

 looked ill but saw nothing luit a little 

 dry grass. On tiie Uth wliile again in 

 the marsh, I again looked in ilu- 

 stump and saw a nest and two eggs. 



1 \'isited the stumj) for the third time 

 on the I3th and found two more ( pg- 

 luul l)een laid, but the stuniji had mean- 

 while lieen inundalid ly luav3-iains 

 and the Ijiids had deserted tlie nest. 

 On ]ui!liiig it out, 1 found under it a 

 mouse nest with eight young mice, 

 wliieli had lieeii drowned. The mice 

 had acee<s to tlieir nest through :i siiUiU 

 jiole in the bottom of the stump, and 

 nothing siqiarated them from the eggs, 

 but the material of the two nests. 

 ]>. S. B<)V>i)isii. 

 Ontario Co., N. Y. 



