THE OOLOG1ST. 



39 



Few Notes About a Common Bird, Etc. 



In the August number of the Oolo- 

 gist, Mr. Morris Gibbs, in his instruc- 

 tive article, "The Nesting of the 

 Birds," states that he does not know 

 of any species of birds in the Great 

 Lake region that annually rears three 

 broods of young in one season. 



In Southeastern Pennsylvania, the 

 ubiquitous Sparrow annually rears 

 three broods of young in one season, 

 some times four, and frequently five 

 and more broods. The Song Sparrow 

 some times though rarely rears 

 three broods. Among the birds that 

 always rear two broods here are the 

 Indigo Bunting, Catbird , Robin, Blue- 

 bird, Field Sparrow, House Wren, etc. 

 I have seen young Indigo Buntings in 

 early September that could hardly fly 

 and some only two-thirds fledged. 



The ubiquitous Sparrow is a brave 

 and fearless bird, even if he is some- 

 what of a nuisance. During my col- 

 lecting experience I have found them 

 nesting in many strange and curious 

 places, but the strangest place, and 

 one nobody would have believed they 

 would select is beneath railroad 

 bridges of the P. R. R., the New York 

 division. I have found many of their 

 nests containing eggs and young. As 

 many as sixty and more trains pass 

 daily over this road and you would 

 think that the noisy train as it rushes 

 past would frighten the bird, but it 

 doesn't one mite. They sit composed- 

 ly on their eggs throughout incuba- 

 tion and do not seem to mind the noise 

 in the least. With all the jarring the 

 eggs receive it is a wonder that they 

 hatch. Beneath other railroad and 

 wagon bridges I have found Phoebe's 

 and Robin's nests containing eggs. 

 Have never seen a Robin remain on 

 the nest when a train passed ,but un- 

 doubtedly do at night. 



Mr. Gibbs, in the article, mentioned 

 above, speaks of birds dropping their 



eggs in other bird's nests, etc. On 

 May 12, 1S97 I found a Ubiquitous Do- 

 mesticus egg in a crack in a willow 

 branch. On the . under side of the 

 branch in a Downy Woodpecker's cav- 

 ity was a half-built Sparrow's nest. On 

 May 20, 1899, at Bustleton, picked up 

 a large Red-winged Blackbird's egg 

 in a field. A search failed to reveal 

 any nest, so I concluded it was drop- 

 ped by the bird. At Pensauken, 

 Camden county, N. J., on May 25, 1902, 

 collected a fine set of two fresh eggs 

 of the Dove (zenaidura macroura) 

 from a Robin's nest, which was placed 

 fifteen feet up in a maple tree. The 

 Dove flushed from the nest. She 

 probably constructed a nest but before 

 she could use it, by some accident it 

 was destroyed and she was forced to 

 lay in the Robin's nest. 



RICHARD F. MILLER, 



Philadelphia, Pa. 



Solitary Sandpiper Breeding in Penn- 

 sylvania. 



In August of the present year it has 

 been my good fortune to discover 

 that the Solitary Sandpiper breeds be- 

 yond a doubt in Pike county, Pa. 



In one of my walks along a charac- 

 teristic mountain stream of this vicin- 

 ity I suddenly came upon an adult 

 Solitary Sandpiper. Following it up 

 the stream about twenty yards I ob- 

 served another adult and a young 

 bird. This was in an immature plum- 

 age. While it had some use of its 

 wings, yet on chasing it a little while 

 I soon caught it, and am sure it had 

 not been out of the nest but a short 

 time. The next day two more imma- 

 ture birds were seen. 



My first thought was that they were 

 early migrants, but upon a second 

 thought I saw that it was clearly im- 

 possible for these young birds to 

 travel any considerable distance. 



Of course this is unusuallv late nest- 



