66 



THE OOLOGIST 



23d. A good many of the birds began 

 work at 9:30 a. m., and continueil till 

 10:45. Some of the birds did very lit- 

 tle, bringing only four or five mouth- 

 fuls and some did a great deal. 



24th. No work was done for some 

 reason. All the birds left between 10 

 and 11 to feed, returning at 5 and stay- 

 ing till sun set. 



25th. The birds began work at 10:30, 

 and for three quarters of an hour, there 

 was a perfect stream of them between 

 the shed and the water hole. After that 

 very little was done till about 4 o'clock, 

 during which time most of the birds 

 were off feeding. Work was suspended 

 for the day at 6:30, and they left at sun- 

 set. 



26th. Work was resumed a few min- 

 utes past 9 o'clock. After about an 

 hour, they laid off a little, but through- 

 out the day the work was carried on 

 quite diligently. 



27th. Work began at 7:45, and was 

 kept up quite steadily. 



28th. They began work at 7:15. Af- 

 ter about two hours, a shower came up. 

 Thereupon they suspended operations 

 and flew around high in the air. In 

 the afternoon, after the heat of the day 

 was over, their work continued. 



29th. They began work about the 

 same time they did the day before, and 

 were quite di ligent all day. Some of 

 the nests were big enough to hold eggs, 

 in fact, all done, except the "neck," 

 but they had not lined any. They did 

 not build the whole structure of the 

 black mud from the water hole, but 

 mixed in streaks of sandy mud, which 

 was brought from the river over a quar- 

 ter of a mile. 



30th. The work was carried on as 

 usual. 



During the afternoon a Sharp-shinned 

 Hawk passed by over-head, which 

 caused a great commotion among the 

 birds. They gathered themselves into 

 two flocks of about the same size and 

 ^ne soared to a considerable height in 



the direction of the Hawk, while the^ 

 other flock circled around near the 

 shed. Perhaps ttie first flock was com- 

 posed of -the males and the other of the 

 females. 



Some of the birds had hard luck. 

 After working steadily for two or three 

 days and getting quite a shelf built. some- 

 thing would give way and down would 

 come the nest. 



But the plucky little fellows never 

 got discouraged, but would start over 

 new. 



The average days' work for a bird 

 was about two hours. 



The birds did not line their nests un- 

 til they were dry, and egg laying then 

 began immediately. The birds lay each 

 day until the complement is complete^ 

 which is four or five eggs, generally the 

 former number. 



The period of incubation is twelve 

 days and at the age of about eighteen 

 days, the young birds are able to fly. A 

 good many die by falling out of the nests; 

 this last year the loss was at least a 

 fourth. After the young are able to fly, 

 the birds cease their twittering and re- 

 main silent. By June, 20th, the last 

 family spread wing and the shed was 

 deserted. 



They all left for the south about Sep- 

 tember 15th. 



The birds are fond of the cypress 

 trees along the river for roosts and 

 perching places. 



I have seen the boughs loaded with 

 them in the heat of tbn day pluuiing 

 themselves after a splash in the water. 



The eggs vary considerably in shape, 

 size and coloration. 



The ground color varies from buff to 

 w hite, generally the latter color, spot- 

 ted with several shades of brown. 



One set in our collection is decidedly 

 pyriform in shape. 



A series of 61 eggs average 82 xO.56, 

 the extremes being 0.92 to 0.76 and 0.60 



to 0.50. 



Irving H. Wentworth, 

 Waring, Texas. 



