THE OOLOGIST. 



155 



A Novice's Note Book — No. 6. 



Virden, Illinois, May 20, 18S2.— Rain 

 crows appeared in town in the morn- 

 ing, before a wet day set in. It be- 

 gan to rain about 9 a. m. 



May 21. — Found a chicken hawk's 

 nest (Cooper's) in the maple grove. 

 It was an old crow's nest, not very 

 high up. The eggs, three in number, 

 were laid on the bare sticks, and the 

 nest was quite shallow. The old 

 birds made no disturbance whatever. 

 Saw a scarlet tanager in the grove, 

 the only one I have seen this season. 



Found two nests of meadow lark in 

 an open meadow, one containing four 

 eggs, the other six eggs, one of the 

 six being not over half as large as 

 the others. The nests were on the 

 ground, beside tufts of grass, and 

 were composed of dried grass nearly 

 surrounded by green. 



May 23. — Found a nest of the green 

 heron in a patch of hazel bushes and 

 scrubby trees through which the 

 creek ran. The nest was about 60 

 yards from the water, in a small crab 

 tree, and was composed of small 

 sticks laid closely together, the mid- 

 dle of the structure being slightly hol- 

 low. The eggs, five in number, were 

 of a light blue color, and were laid 

 on the bare sticks without any lin- 

 ing. The old birds did not make any 

 disturbance while I examined the 

 nest. I heard of two other nests be- 

 ing found along the creek. 



May 26. — Secured the nest of Bal- 

 timore oriole mentioned on May 15. I 

 tied a rope to the limb and secured 

 it to a limb above, and then sawed it 

 off, letting it fall within a few feet 

 of the ground. The female was sit- 

 ting in the nest, where she remain- 

 ed while the limb fell and until she 

 was caught and taken from the nest. 

 There were two eggs, of a dark ol- 

 ive color, sparsely streaked with dark 

 brown. The nest was composed of 



twine, thread and fibers of bark, 

 closely woven together, and lined 

 very warmly with bark fibers and 

 hair. Grass fibers were, also used in 

 making the nest. 



May 28. — Saw a nighthawk flying, 

 about an hour before sunset. 



May 29. — Saw the nighthawk flying 

 in the morning, about an hour before 

 sunrise. It alighted on the ground, 

 where it sat for a long time, as if 

 asleep, and I left it undisturbed. 



June 4. — Found a nest of phoebe 

 bird, under a bridge. It was made of 

 mud, moss, bark fibers and grass, and 

 lined with hair and wool. It contain- 

 ed five eggs, white, unspotted, em- 

 broyos nearly developed. The egg of 

 the phoebe bird is sometimes spotted 

 faintly with brown or reddish brown. 



June 11. — The favorite resort of the 

 indigo bird is the topmost branch of 

 some tree, where it sits and warbles 

 forth its notes. One I have noticed 

 has a particular branch upon which 

 it sits and sings. Cedar birds have 

 been around in flocks for the past two 

 days, but they do not scatter out. 



June 25. — Found a nest of the chick- 

 en hawk (Cooper's), containing three 

 young ones and one egg just ready to 

 hatch. The young were covered with 

 white down. The old birds made no 

 disturbance while the nest was exam- 

 ined. 



Found a nest of the green heron 

 with one young bird. It was standing 

 up in the nest, and presented a very 

 comical appearance. It climbed 

 around over the tree clinging by its 

 claws, sometimes head downward. 

 The nest was in an apple orchard, 

 over a quarter of a mile from the 

 creek. 



July 19. — Blackbirds now flocking 

 together. 



August 13. — Nighthawks beginning 

 to fly over. They begin to fly about 

 an hour before sunset, and continue 



