106 



THE OOLOGIST. 



found in the main streets, flying from 

 cornice to cornice on the buildings, 

 nesting in the palms of every door- 

 yard in the residence section and in 

 the luxuriant rose and other vines 

 which cover houses in the suburbs. 



In the city parks the linnets are 

 literally numberless. Almost all Cal- 

 ifornia trees are evergreens, at least 

 they shed their leaves by degrees, so 

 that one does not notice the "moult." 

 To such trees in the parks come hun- 

 dreds of small birds to nest. Among 

 those I have found in one park are 

 Brewer's Blackbird, Mocking-bird, 

 Mourning Dove, Shrike, Bullock's and 

 the Arizona Hooded Orioles, Arkan- 

 sas and Lawrence's Gold Finches, 

 House Finches, Yellow Warbler, and 

 one of the song sparrows; I do not 

 now remember which. 



Of all these, the house finches are 

 the most abundant. One oftheir fa- 

 vorite nesting places is in a fan palm 

 tree. The leaf stems of the fan palm 

 leave the trunk in such a manner 

 that a round cup is formed between 

 the branch and the tree itself. To 

 line this with rootlets, leaves and 

 horse hair is short work for so in- 

 dustrious a bird, and the result is that 

 frequently a half dozen nests are 

 found on the trunk of one large palm, 

 each presided over by a sober little 

 female, the while her red-headed 

 mate, in company with many of his 

 kind, is rustling worms and bugs on 

 the lawn. 



Another nesting place of the house 

 finch is in the leafy tangle of some 

 luxuriant vine such as the Australian 

 pea or Virginia creeper, either of 

 which grows to perfection here. Dead 

 leaves gather in clumps in these fine- 

 foliaged vines and the linnet I have 

 no doubt, seeks to imitate these in 

 his nest making, and so better hide 

 her home from prowling cats and 

 hoys. 



The eggs in these nests are from 



three to six in number, though sets 

 of the latter size are extremely rare, 

 and are pale blue in ground color, dot- 

 ted, blotched and lined with black of 

 the deepest intensity. Occasionally, 

 almost round or equal-ended eggs of 

 the linnet are found, but, as a rule, 

 they are rounded pyriform in shape. 

 They are laid in February, March, 

 April, May, June, July, August, and, 

 though rarely, a female house finch 

 will be found incubating in Septem- 

 ber. Most of the birds that lay in 

 the first months raise at least one 

 other brood before the summer is 

 over, and this accounts for the late 

 nesting, in some cases, at least. 



Taken from the nest and blown, 

 the eggs of the house finch lose much 

 of their deep blue and take on a 

 gray-green tinge, which is far from 

 beautiful. Fresh, in their home, how- 

 ever, the golden yolk flushing the 

 blue shell with shades of pink, they 

 are most handsome, especially when 

 the nest, as I have seen specimens, 

 is composed of green clover leaves. 

 H. H. DUNN. 



Haliaeetus leucocephalus. 



Do you want to hear our experience 

 with the Bald Eagle? Of course you 

 do; well, here it is: 



When I say our experience I mean 

 Mr. W. B. Crispin, of Salem, N. J., 

 and myself, because he and I are one 

 in the egg business. 



Our first efforts to secure the eggs 

 of the Bald Eagle in this vicinity was 

 in the spring of 1899, when Crispin 

 wint over in Maryland on a prospect- 

 ing trip. He did not get any eggs 

 that year, but collected some valu- 

 able information which he saved into 

 the next year. 



In 1900 he went back to Maryland 

 again and this time was late for 

 Eagle eggs. He found a nest with one 

 young one and one ad(''ed egg. The 



