78 



THE OOLOGlST 



in a birch stump, standing by the edge 

 of the stream. 



On coming back to the very place on 

 the railroad where I entered the wood, 

 I started for home, and on the way 

 found a Carolina Chickadee hard at 

 work digging a cavity in which to build 

 its nest. 



I sat down to watch the bird at work, 

 and found, that, every time it entered 

 the hole, it returned with a chip, and 

 instead of dropping it at the door, as 

 does the Nuthatches and Woodpeckers, 

 it would fly to a maple standing near 

 and then drop it. I watched the dili- 

 gent worker for quite a time and then 

 returned home, empty handed, but sat- 

 isfied with any work(?) 



I noticed an error in my article in the 

 April number of The Oologist. The 

 fourth paragraph reads thus: 



"The nest is made of fine bark, fine 

 reed leaves, and wool, placed in a cavity 

 from four to tan inches deep and con- 

 tains from four to six eggs." 



It should read thus: 



The nest is made of fine bark, pine 

 seed leaves, and wool, placed in a cavity 

 from four to ten inches deep and con- 

 tains from four to six eggs. 



R. P, Smithm^ck, 

 LaGrange, N. C. 



A Curious Nesting- Place. 



It some times happens that nests are 

 found in spots and positions that are 

 decidely foreign to the usual building 

 places of certain birds— in kettles, old 

 boxes and hats, and we now and then 

 have the good luck of coming upon them 

 in such like strange and peculiar re- 

 treats. 



Although, without much doubt, the 

 English Sparrows (Passer domesticus) 

 care less than other birds where they 

 make the nest in which they expect to 

 bring up their brood, still one would 

 scarcely suppose that a pair of these 

 "rats of the air" would ever have 



thought of choosing the deserted home 

 of the common wasp as a place for their 

 eggs and young. 



On April 6, 1893, while a friend and I 

 were out for an ornithological tramp in 

 the suburbs of the city, it began to grow 

 steadily colder and look as though it 

 soon intended to snow, so we started 

 for home, but soon afterwards the wind 

 shifting and the sun again coming out, 

 we changed our plan and walked along 

 by a creek toward a road, which we 

 knew to be in the woods about two 

 miles off, intending to go home by that 

 way and having walkad some distance, 

 we stopped to rest near one of the 

 numerous gullies, through which a 

 small stream emptied into a large bay 

 near at hand and here, when about to 

 go on again, my eye caught sight of an 

 old, abandoned, oval-shaped wasp's 

 nest. From all appearances it had been 

 built the previous year and since it was 

 a pai'ticularly large one, I went up to it 

 and cut it down with the intentien of 

 carrying it home with me. 



I did not then pay much attention to 

 the affair, but having gone on for about 

 half a mile, I looked at it and noticed 

 that one side was partly torn away, the 

 inside nearly all pulled out and replaced 

 by straw and such other substances as 

 go to make up an ordinary nest. Sit- 

 ting down we examined the inside nest 

 more closely and found a small entrance 

 to this nest in one side. Putting my 

 hand in this I found, from its shape and 

 lining, that it probably was the nest of 

 the common sparrow. This supposition 

 was confirmed by the fact that on a 

 limb of the same tree, from which I had 

 obtained the nest, there were also a 

 pair of English Sparrows, who, in all 

 probability, had but a half hour before 

 been putting the finishing touches on 

 their summer domicile in this curious 

 structure and which the writer, though 

 not meaning to have done so, had taken 

 from them. 



On the way home it became caught in 



