THE OOLOGIST. 



221 



saw a pair of tliese tyrannidoe. flying 

 above and toward a point ahead of nie. 

 Finally the female alighted on top of 

 one of the tall Osage Orange trees, on 

 an overhanging I)raneh of which was 

 placed the nest. The female, after fly- 

 ing to and fro near its mate uttering 

 ■cries of alarm as if to secure her my 

 protection, finally alighted on a more 

 ■distant tree. After a hard climb of but 

 a few minutes, I was safely on the 

 limb beside the nest; but what was my 

 surprise to find, not a complete set of 

 one species, but one egg of a 

 Mourning Dove and two eggs of the 

 Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. The latter I 

 left, but the former I carried witli me 

 and placed in a nest of its own species. 

 In a few days (June 4, 1888) I made it a 

 point to visit the Flycatcher's nest 

 again. This time I found a fine set of 

 five eggs of the Scissor-tailed Fly- 

 catcher with incubation just begun, 

 and, as they lie before me, measure 

 respectively .93 x .70, 1.00 x .G8, .94 x 

 .70, .95 X .71 and .93 x .68. The nest 

 was composed of weeds and rootlets, 

 iiud lined with hair, cloth and woody 

 fibers, and measured as follows: 

 Diameter, outside 4^ in., inside 3 in.; 

 depth, outside 4i in., inside 2^^ in. The 

 compositicjn of nest plainly shows it to 

 liave been built by the Flycatcher, and 

 I have come to the conclusion, that the 

 Mourning Dove must have deposited its 

 egg when the Flycatchers were out for- 

 aging, as it would have been a very 

 impolite as well as a very imsafe thing 

 to have done, had the Flj'catchers been 

 at home. I have never heard of such a 

 daring deed being done by such a meek 

 bird as a Dove, but the evidence cer- 

 tainly goes to prove such. The meas- 

 urements of the Flycatcher's eggs are 

 larger than the measurements given in 

 the various works on oology-, but, hav- 

 ing a good view of the parent bird, I 

 am sure that my identification is cor- 

 rect. Let us hear from others. 



W. M<.)llOAN M.\RTIX, 



Wellington, Kansas. 



[Friend M's. "Scissor-tail" would if 

 captured have proven an Arkansas 

 Kingbird. — Ed.] 



In the Maine Woods. 



I passed the greater part of last May 

 and June in Maine woods and made, to 

 me, some very interesting discoveries. 

 I found two sets of Magnolia Warbler's 

 eggs, one of two eggs, the other of 

 three, both much incubated. Accord- 

 ing to Davie's book these are very 

 small sets. 



In the bottom of the former nest was 

 a Cowbird's fresh egg buried. There 

 seemed to be only one nest, but the 

 bottom was sufficiently thick to cover 

 both sides of the egg, and I should not 

 have found it had I not been in the 

 habit of collecting the nests with the 

 eggs. I have read of such cases, bu 

 this is the first one that ever came to 

 my notice. Are such cases common? 

 [Not incommon. — Ed.] 



I have several specimens of the 

 Slu'ike that nests in Maine, together 

 with the eggs, but I am unal)le to tell 

 which one of the Shrikes it is from 

 C(nies' discriptions. Will you please 

 inform me? [White-rumped. — Ed.] 



I found that the Slate-colored Junco 

 and the Winter Wren rear tlieir young 

 as far soutli as Orient, ISIe., and in a 

 very level country. 



A. B. C.\LL. 



An OrniuJiologioal Leeca, 



A companion and myself wliile on a 

 collecting trip during the ])a-t si'a^on. 

 found a nest of the House Fiucii .situat- 

 ed about five feet from the ground in 

 the lower branch of a live oak. Oa ap- 

 proaching the nest we were surprised 

 to find the bird sitting tliereon, asleep, 

 as we at first supposed, l)Ut further ex- 

 amination revealed life to be extinct. 

 Removing her from the nest we made 

 a po.s'/ ?«or/t'/>i examination and found 



