236 



THE OOLOGIST. 



4th was in a small clump of wild black- 

 berry bushes overhanging a small, dry 

 ditch along the road followed by the 

 village boys on their fishing trips. It 

 was the least concealed of all the nests 

 found, and soon was overtaken by self- 

 invited disaster, though I suspegt that 

 Blue Jays were the guilty paities. The 

 nests are made largely of grayish hedge 

 bark fibres, among which are worked a 

 sort of bright clean soft husk in small 

 pieces, fine dried grass, bits of paper, 

 and pieces and threads of gossamer. 

 Outwardly, the nest generally presents 

 an unfinished appearance, the bark 

 fibres and pieces of husk being allowed 

 to hang loosely from the base and sides 

 of the nest. The lining is of fine dried 

 grass with here and there a round fiat 

 flake of gossamer. The cavity is firmly 

 rounded and smoothly finished, averag- 

 ing one inch and five-eighths in diame- 

 ter, by one and one-half in depth. 



We never found more than four eggs 

 in a nest, and that number appeared to 

 constitute a full set, the complement 

 being larger than the complements of 

 most of the other Vireos. Though 

 most observers report the Cowbird as 

 imposing its eggs upon this species, 

 none of the nests examined by us con- 

 tained eggs of the parasite. 



P. M. SiLLOWAY, 



Virden, 111. 



Nesting Habits of Richardson's Merlin. 



On May 5th, while out looking for 

 Hawks' eggs, I came to a clump of 

 trees, one of which had a Hawk's nest 

 in it. While rapping the trunk a small 

 Hawk flew screeching from a tree on 

 my left. Thinking it might have a nest 

 near by I rapped the trunk of a small 

 poplar which had several woodpecker 

 holes in it, the Hawk meanwhile kick- 

 ing up a great disturbance overhead. 

 As nothing came from this tree, I tried 

 another, and at the first rap its mate 

 flew from the tree. On climbing up I 



found a cavity ia the top, where the 

 trunk had been broken off, and inside,. 

 it, one egg considerably lai'ger than 

 that of a Sparrow Hawk, and resem- 

 bling the Osprey's c ggs in my collec- 

 tion, in style of coloi'iug. I left this 

 egg resolving to visit the place again 

 on the Saturday following. (May 13.) 



These birds were new to me, but I 

 was certain they must be Merlins. So 

 on the 13th, when I went again 1 took 

 my gun with me, intending to shoot 

 one or both the birds, to make cer- 

 tain of their identity. 



On climbing to the nest I found four 

 handsome eggs, which I took, aud also 

 shot the female bird, which I fully 

 identified. As these eggs were pei'feet- 

 ly fresh, I concluded that one was laid 

 every other day, and not daily, as I 

 think most bii'ds do. 



The cavity these eggs were in was 

 about eight inches across, one and one- 

 half feet deep, and 23 feet from the 

 ground, in a black poplar. The birds 

 were vei'y bold, flj'ing round my head 

 and perching on the tree within three 

 or four feet of me. The female was 

 considerably larger than the male, and 

 far bolder. 



The eggs are very handsome and are 

 of two styles of coloration. Two are 

 heavily blotched all over the larger 

 half of the egg, while the other two ai'e 

 spotted over tlie entire surface, the 

 ground color being visible only at the 

 tip, the markings on the larger end are, 

 however, slightly heavier. They are 

 bufl'y white ground color, blotched and 

 splashed with dift'erent shades of red- 

 dish brown and cinnamon. Sizes, 1.66- 

 1.35, 1.59x1.25, 1.60x1.34, 1.61x1.24. 



As this is, without exception, the 

 handsomest clutch in my collection, I 

 am doubly proud of my find. 



My first large Hawk'.s nest this sea- 

 son was taken on May 3d, with almost 

 fresh eggs, so I think these Merlin's 

 build just as early as the larger Hawks, 

 and fully a month earlier than the 

 Sparrow Hawks. 



