142 



THE OOLOGIST. 



THEOOLOGIST 



AMoNTHLY Magazine Devoted to 

 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



FRANK H. LATTIN, ALBION, N. Y. 



EDITOR AND PUBLISHER. 



CorresponrlPiice anfl Items of Interesr, to M\o 

 Studf lit or lUias. their Nests and Kygs, solKi;eii 

 Irom all. 



TERMS OFSUBSCRIPTION. 



Single Snbsci-ipaori, - - soc per nrininn. 

 SaiJiple Cupies. ----- ."■c e:icii. 

 The above nites Include paxiiiciit of postage by us 



Send stamp for Preiiiluia f-lst. 

 All subscrliittous must betrtn with either J.iri'i.u.) 

 or July Issues. 

 tw Remember tha' the publisher must be no 

 titled by letter when ft sub-ciiber wishes liis pa- 

 per stopped, and all arreaiyKfs must be paid. 



ADVERTISING RATES. 

 15 cts. per afrate line each inserriun. TJberal 

 discounts will be allowed on birgeand eiviiiuued 

 advertisements, send copy for spnnal iv.'us. 



Remittances should be made by Draft. K.xpress 

 or Post Olhce Aloney Oi'der. iiei^istered Letter or 

 Postal Note. Unused U. S. Postasre stamp* of any 

 denomination will lie acceiiiod lor sums under one 

 dollar. Make Money Orders and Oralis payable 

 and address all subscilptiiuis and comiQunica- 

 tlOUS to FHANK II. LAT'l'IN. 



Albion, Orleans Co., jn. Y. 



•,• Articles, Items of Interest and Qufiies 

 for pubhcation should be lorvraided as eaily Ir 

 the month as possible 



My First Nighthawk's Nest. 



The 8tli of l:ist June, Avhil(> out Avalk- 

 ing witli my lnothei- on a l;irg(i hill east 

 of our rily. I found a Nighthawk's nest. 

 It w;is a warm tlay and not having any- 

 thing to do. (it being Sunday) I deter- 

 mined to take a walk. So I went to the 

 hill, named above. This hill is very 

 rocky, and there are a few small pines 

 and pojjlar growing there. 



While walking along, suddenly a 

 large bird flew up directly in front of 

 me, Avhieh I soon determined was a 

 Nighthawk. It cii-clcd around f(H- 

 some time, and then aliglited on a log 

 fence near by. Thinking there might 

 be a nest near w«^ went to work to try 

 to discover it. Neither of us ever hav- 

 ing seen or found a Nightliawk'^ nest, 

 we did not know where to look. I had 



hardly taken more th.-in three steps for^ 

 ward when I saw two eggs lying on the- 

 ground. There was not the least sign, 

 of a nest. The eggs were simply lying- 

 on the hard bare ground. They were 

 so much like the ground (which wa& 

 greenish-black) that it was hard to dis^ 

 tinguish them from it. 



1 was surprised to see the eggs ii\ 

 so conspicufius a place. There was 

 nothing in the least to conceal it. I 

 probably should not hsive found it, but 

 for the bird leaving it. Soon as I found 

 the nest I went oti" and hid to see what, 

 the bird would do. After Avaitiug for 

 some time, the bird flew oft' from the 

 fent.-e, and began circling around in the 

 vicinity of the nest. This it kept up 

 for about live minutes, when she settled 

 down on her nest. While flying arounr^ 

 she seemed to be trying to make out if 

 her eggs were in their accustomed place, 

 for sometimes she flew directly over it 

 and within a few inches of it. 



Soon as slie had settled down on her 

 nest we went away. The next daj^ I 

 returned to see if any more eggte had 

 ijeen deposited, but finding that none 

 had I took f)ne of the eggs and left the 

 other there, to see i what she would do. 

 with one gone. 



The egg I found when 1 came to blow 

 it, was slightly iiiculiatcd. For a day- 

 or two I was detained from going to see 

 how my bird was getting on, but when 

 I did go I found that tlie nest had l)een 

 deserted, and so I took the other egg. 

 I now have a fine set of eggs of the 

 Nighthawk in my collection. 



1 have often seen it asked wh(!ther a, 

 bird could tell if any of her eggs were 

 missing. I have come to the conclu- 

 sion that they can. or else why should 

 this bird have left her nest when I took 

 an egg, but stay there when I did not 

 take anyV I liave also noticed the same 

 with other birds. 



U. N. Clakk, 

 Sturgeon Bay, Wis.. 



