THE OOLOGIST. 



255 



birds uests as possible on our way 

 there. 



Well, we crossed two meadows, and 

 atter resting ourselves on a rail fence 

 to consider the best route to Black 

 Creek, we jumped off the fence into 

 the third meadow. We had hardly 

 struck the gi'ound before a female Bob- 

 olink fluttered up from our feet and 

 feigning a broken wing tried to lead us 

 from her nest An instant's search re- 

 warded us with a set of six finely 

 marked eggs from a slight nest of dead 

 grass placed between two stalks of 

 white-weed. We must have surprised 

 her very much as they are seldom 

 Hushed, usually running off the nest 

 and rising at some distance, r making 

 their nests hard to locate. 



From here we soon reached the 

 Creek. The very first thing I found 

 nests of Yellow Warbler and Catbird, 

 but as my collection comprises as many 

 sets of these as I desire, I left them to 

 the old birds, who were expressing 

 their displeasure at my presence by 

 a great deal of noise, mostly made by 

 the Catbirds. Starting up creek to the 

 west I had gotten about half way to my 

 destination when I flushed a Yellow 

 Warbler from her nest in a small wil- 

 low, and on looking in from mere curi- 

 osity , I noticed something peculiar 

 about the bottom of the nest under the 

 five eggs it contained. On closer in- 

 spection I found that the old bird in- 

 stead of building the usual double nest, 

 to cover up two Cowbird's eggs, had 

 simply relined the nest, an unusual 

 proceeding in my experience, and the 

 lining had settled unt'l half of each egg 

 stuck up in the nest. Certainly a queer 

 looking affair. 



From here proceetled on up the creek 

 until we reached the tract I spoke of, a 

 deserted clearing of some 20 acres, 

 overgrown with shrubs, weeds, etc., 

 and close to a forest of like size border- 

 ing on the creek. I have found many 

 nice sets here in former years. 



We had gone but a short distance 

 when I saw a suspicious looking spot in 

 the top of a thorn bush. It proved to 

 be a shallow ne^;t of rootlets and while 

 we stood looking at the thorns a male 

 Rose-breasted Grosbeak flew over our 

 heads with a warning call to his mate. 

 She, however, did not appear. We fin- 

 ally succeeded in getting the nest down 

 whole and found four fresh eggs. The 

 ground color was the lightest I have 

 ever seen. In fact, they looked much 

 like the eggs of the western Black- 

 headed Grosbeak. 



A little way further and I heard a 

 rustle as a Wilson's Thrush darted from 

 under me and flitted into a thicket, 

 Having had some experience with this 

 bird before, I did not step around look- 

 ing for the nest. I staid in my tracks 

 aud searched the ground and weeds 

 under me until I found the nest, placed 

 between two small shrubs, some ten 

 inches above the ground and well con- 

 cealed under weeds. It is nearly al- 

 ways that way wit.i this bird. If you 

 take a single step after flushing the bird 

 you may put your foot right on the 

 nest, they let you get so close. 



1 found two other nests this same day 

 one of them under exactly the same 

 circumstances and in a similar situa- 

 tion; the ether was on the end of a 

 branch growing over a puddle of water 

 and I stepped on the other end. Of 

 course she didn't wait for me to get 

 any nearer. All contained four eggs 

 and incubation commenced. It is the 

 first of the Thrushes to nest here. 



1 now began to search for Redstarts' 

 nests which I had found here on pre- 

 vious trips. Suddenly I heard my 

 friend exclaim, "Oh! what's that?" I 

 found him gazing on a female Chestnut- 

 sided Warbler sitting on the nest, in 

 a small maple about three feet high. 

 On scaring her from the nest I got a 

 set of three fresh eggs. If I could have 

 left them another day, I would probab- 

 ly have got another egg. A few min- 



