220 



THE OOLOaiSt 



made aware of the rightful owners of 

 the nest, by being darted at by a pair 

 of Least Terns. We again began our 

 search for the Plover nest, but with- 

 out avail. 



After walking down the beach for 

 another mile or two, and seeing noth- 

 ing of interest, we returned and again 

 began a search for the Plover nest, 

 beating backward and forward across 

 the beach until I finally remarked to 

 my son that I guessed the Plovers had 

 us "buffaloed". I had not walked ten 

 steps forward until I saw the nest 

 with its four beauties lying directly in 

 front of us ! The birds then put on an 

 exhibition of being wounded and the 

 like, such as a Killdeer does. We 

 were fortunate in finding another nest 

 of this species, containing three eggs, 

 on July 6th. 



On my visit to this same locality in 

 1917, when Mr. Harold H. Bailey was 

 Federal Game Warden and Mr. Wil- 

 liam Doughty was local Warden, there 

 was no egging being done, and no 

 shooting of beach birds during the 

 spring migration, as both officers were 

 doing their duty. At present, there is 

 no warden worthy of the name in the 

 whole district. The Black Skimmer 

 colony on "Sandy Island" which in 

 1917, I estimated to contain between 

 three and four thousand pairs, has 

 dropped to such an extent that I doubt 

 if it contains more than a thousand 

 pairs. 



Do birds ever lay more than one egg 

 a day during the nesting season? In 

 ansv/er to the above, I wish to "re- 

 port a case." On May 26th, 1918, I 

 found the ne t of a Red headed Wood- 

 pecker near the top of a solitary dead 

 apple tree standing in a pasture field. 

 Examination of this nest at about 

 noon of the above date, showed the 

 nest to be a new one, but contained 

 no eggs. When examined on the af- 

 ternoon of May 29th, it contained five 



eggs. There was but little chance and 

 no probability of any other female 

 laying in the nest, as there were no 

 others of the species about, and the 

 tree, the only one in the pasture, was 

 at least a quarter of a mile from any 

 other tree. 



It is very likely that the bird laid 

 one egg on the 27th, two on the 28th 

 and two on the 29th, or five eggs in 

 three days. No matter how it is fig- 

 ured, there is at least one day in 

 which two eggs were laid. Three of 

 the eggs are slightly deformed by be- 

 ing somewhat crinkled at the smaller 

 end, where the shell appears thinner. 



I would like to hear through the 

 columns of THE OOLOGIST from 

 others in regard to the above query. 



B. R. Bales, M.D. 

 Circleville, Ohio. 



Bachman's Sparrow in Arkansas 

 H. E. Wheeler 



Bachman's Sparrow is reported by 

 Professor A. H. Howell* as a rather 

 rare and local Summer resident in 

 Arkansas, and he records having se- 

 cured a specimen of this species at 

 Conway on June 7, 1910, and another 

 at Camden on July 7th, of the same 

 year. On June 22 he observed four or 

 five birds at Hoxie, and states that on 

 September 1st (1910?) Mr. Savage 

 noted two birds at Delight. These are 

 about all the records known. 



The writer has found this bird 

 rather common in suitable localities 

 about Conway. Mr. A. F. Ganier, the 

 Secretary of the Wilson Ornithologi- 

 cal Club, has in preparation a paper 

 on the habits of this species, and I 

 offer here only a few notes which will 

 serve as a corollary and explain the 

 pictures herewith published. 



Bachman's SparroAv ir., like the 

 Grasshopper Sparrow, rarely seen. It 

 is to be located rather by its song 

 which is quite entrancing and distinct, 



