THE OOLOGIST 



311 



Sora Rail's Nest in Old "Mill Pond." 



Eggs, fifteen. Some were partly in- 

 cubated with large embryos, and some 

 were fresh; i)roving that the bird sits 

 on nest from the time the first egg is 

 laid. 



Xest built of Bull Rushes and slight- 

 ly above the water level, in dense Bull 

 Rushes, and in nine inches of stag- 

 nate water. Xest twelve feet from 

 shore line. 



Eggs and nest photograi)hed June 

 If), 11)10. 



J. F. Stierle. 

 Marshfield, Wis. 



Notes. 



A. J. Kirn reports the Gambel's Part- 

 ridge (Lophortyx gambeli) at Vinita. 

 Oklahoma. He also says the Pileated 

 Woodpecker is still found in that vi- 

 cinity, and refers to the fact of hav- 

 ing once found seven Crow's eggs in a 

 nest. This by way of reference to the 

 report of R. L. More of Vernon, Texas, 

 to the same effect. 



We have a set of seven Crow's eggs 

 in our collection, the history of which 

 is rather interesting. 



It was taken originally along in the 

 '90"s at Wady Petra, a small place 

 eighteen miles Southwest of Lacon, 

 and by the collector sold to Harry R. 

 Taylor of California. When Taylor 

 broke up his collection, we purchased 

 this set and it returned to within a 

 few miles of where it first started 

 from. It is the only set of seven we 

 have ever seen personally. 



Mr. W. A. Strong of San Jose, Cali- 

 fornia, writes that May 20, 1912, he 

 discovered the nest of a Willow Gold 

 Finch with four eggs which hatched on 

 the 28th. On the 4th of June again 

 looking into the nest, there were two 

 little bird skeletons and nothing else 

 except a multitude of ants. We have 



no doubt but that many young birds 

 are destroyed in this way. 



:\Ir. S. V. Wharram of Geneva, Ohio, 

 rei)orts some unusual nesting sites 

 this si)ring. One a Brown Thrasher's 

 nest containing four eggs situated on 

 the ground in the midst of a bushy 

 pasture. Another a Chewink Towhee 

 eighteen inches from the ground in a 

 bush in the midst of the same bushy 

 liasture. Both of which are unusual. 



On May 20th of this year in Reeves 

 County, Texas, I found in a catclaw 

 brush on Sunflower Draw, a very in- 

 teresting nest of the Road Runner. It 

 contained one young bird that was 

 fairly well feathered, six inches or 

 more in length, and five others that 

 ranged in age down to one that had 

 been hatched only a few hours. One 

 egg was pipped and two that were not, 

 one of which lacked several days of 

 being ready to hatch. Six birds and 

 three eggs, making a set of nine. I 

 have often found nests of seven and 

 eight eggs and young: but one of nine 

 I consider rare. 



It is almost impossible to secure a 

 full set of fresh Roadrunner eggs, un- 

 less, as laid, they are pierced to stop 

 incubation. — Stokley Ligon, Pecos, 

 Texas. 



I have an unusual find to record for 

 the season of 1912. June 1st while 

 walking along the edge of a wood I 

 flushed a Towhee from a well conceal- 

 ed nest placed in the center of a grass 

 tussock. Stooping over to examine 

 the contents I was somewhat sur- 

 prised to say the least at the miscel- 

 laneous array of eggs that came to 

 view as I parted the grass. Three typi- 

 cal Towhee eggs, a runt Towhee and 

 a Cowbird for good measure. The runt 

 is very heavily colored, in fact all the 

 pigmentation that a normal specimen 

 would receive is crowded onto its 

 much smaller surface. The runt meas- 



