l8 THE OREGON NATURALIST. 



.80 of an inch in length by .60 in breadth, the nest without any lining and all the 



In the spring of 1894 a friend of mine, weeds near it covered up except a part of 



while plowing in an orchard, covered up the bunch of briers under which it had 



the nest, eggs and bird of this species. It originally been concealed. The nest was 



was the first furrow he had plowed and "ow left unprotected and in plain view, 



he did not turn the nest over but simply The bird didnot abandon the nest as I would 



piled a lot dirt upon it He did not notice have expected, and a few days afterward 



it until he saw the old bird flutter out four little birds made their appearance and 



from among the clods. He immediately were raised in safety. Here again comes 



suspected what had been done, and upon "P the perplexing question, " Do birds 



removing some of the dirt, found the nest have reason ? " and considering this bird 



containing four eggs and an abundance of alone we are compelled to answer it in the 



dirt. He then carefully removed the eggs affirmative. At least it seemed that this 



and in order to get all of the dirt out took bird knew that the person who cleaned out 



out all of the lining. Having thus rid the her nest wa$ a benefactor and not one of 



nest of all of the dirt, he replaced the eggs those persons sometimes styled "egg 



and marked the place so as not to cover it cranks. " It certainly seems that this 



up the next round. He did not expect the bird's conduct could not be attributed to 



bird would return, but thought he would either "chance" or "instinct". But 1 do 



try, as anything would do as well as to "ot think this is a common occurence, in 



leave them covered. But the next day tact 1 believe it is an exception. I have 



wh'='n he returned to his work he found '"o^e than once found their nests while 



the faithful old bird setting on her precious plowing and rather than cover them up I 



eggs as though nothing had happened. would remove the nest together with a 



My friend told me about the circumstan- portion of the adjoining sod, returning it 



, ,.., ^, ,, , ,., t. ^ to the same place when the plow had pass- 



ces but did not tell me where the nest was ^ ^ ^'^^'^ 



c. . , r. ^^ I ^fo,-f<.H ^,,f tn ed. I would then withdraw for some dis- 

 So a few days afterwards 1 started out to 



, .. r 4.1- i. 4 :4. ^, „„f ,,„+;i 1 tance and watch the actions of the bird, 

 hunt for the nest, and it was not until 1 



, , I ^. ., ^ ..„f;^o ^r-l-,-,r^ She would hop along and peck at worms 



had gone over almost the entire orchard »- & k 



^, ^ , r J i-u A. u- \ i„- 4-^ until quite near when she would suddenly 



that 1 found the nest, which was clob-e to ^ J' 



the last tree in the last row. At mv ap- ^"P '''^'^' ^^ ^he bunch of grass. While 



proach the old bird slipped off of the nest '"^''^^ ' ^"^"''^ "^^ ^^^ '■'^•' ^^^ upon my ap- 



, ^, c- > J <-^ .1^^ ^„^i, proach she would slip off, only to return 



and went hoppin? from clod to clod, peck- ^ y ■: y 



„ . +.1 • ^ ;r K.,^;i when 1 had disappeared. After awhile 



ing occasionally at something as if busily ^^ 



, , , . r f ■, Tu;^ I K„i;^ r^ however, she would leave it and not 

 engaged hunting for food. This, I believe 



return 

 is their usual method in alluring or trying ' 



to allure the intruder from their nests. A Mallarrl, (possibly a hyhrifl) recently shot 



_ • ■ ^1 X J -i X i. 1 on the Columbia river, weiglied 4 fb and meas- 



On examining the nest and itscontents, 1 ^,,.^.j^ ^4^4 inches in length, n^A wing, 36;^ 



found them to be exactly as represented: stretch of wings and 4 inches tail. 



