THK OREGON NATURALIST. 



depending upon their legs before their wings 

 have grown. 



Most of their footl is obt.uned from the ground, 

 consequently they are more terrestrial than ar- 

 boreal. They are chiefly insectivorous in diet 

 and remain afoot later in the day than do most 

 birds. 



Here I find nidification begins in the Inst 

 week in March, and if robbed, a new domicile 

 is soon constructed in the immediate vicinity. 

 The usual comjiliment is 4 eggs, often 3, and 

 two sets of 5 eggs each came under my notice. 

 A surprisingly large number of infertile eggs 

 are found; occasionly two at one sitting. 



In this locality, heavily wooded with live 

 oaks, the nests are usually placed in these trees, 

 the majority averaging 12 ft. from Mie ground, 

 while ;in occasional one will be found at the 

 height of over 20 ft. I seldom found a nest 

 that was below a level with my head, and the 

 lowest was 2^ ft. from the ground in a currant 

 bush. Pines, cypresses, wild blackberry 

 patches, vines and garden shrubs are also 

 favorite sites for nests. 



The female is a close sitter and will often 

 allow the branch holding the nest to be vigor- 

 ously shaken before she will leave. 



The eggs have a considerable sameness 

 about them and although the markings can be 

 said to vary considerably they cannot be 

 confounded with eggs cf any other bird. They 

 resemble at a hasty glance those of the Red- 

 winged Blackbirds, Agelaius but lack the 

 creamy 01 bufif shade often prevalent and the 

 lines and scrawls on the latter. 



Very little variation exists in the nest con- 

 struction, 'locally a foundation of dead stems and 

 a few twigs, then rootlets, weeds and dry grass, 

 andlastly a lining of fine rootlets, plant fibres 

 and horsehnir. 



The nests are always placed in the twigs, 

 hut, one nest found this season rested on a cy- 

 press limb, the side of the nest resting against 

 the trunk of the tree. 



A pair of California Towhees, last spring, 

 took possession of an almost completed but 

 deserted California Jay's nest in the top of a 



small oak about 20 ft. from the ground, and 

 lined it after their own fashion, beginning with 

 their CO; rsest materials until it was finished. It 

 never held more than 2 eggs, nor did any nest 

 in th.'tt field ever avoid the schoolboys' 

 detection long enough to contain anything 

 over — "set. ^." 



Donald A. Cohen. 

 Alameda, Calif. 



"A FULL HOUSE." 



I recall having found in the winter of 1890 

 what I consider almost a large family. One 

 side of a large burr oak tree was dead, while 

 the other was yet alive. The tree was a 

 hollow one. Breaking in the dead shell I 

 found twenty- two full grown Flying Squirrels, 

 SciuropUrtts volans (L), Of course it was 

 several families united as one, for protection 

 from the rigors of a Wisconsin winter. It re- 

 minded me of some of the tenement houses of 

 our great cities. 



W, E. Snyder. 



Beaver Dam, Wis. 



Baron Henry Foul Ion von Norbeck, the 

 Austrian scientist and explorer, who with 

 several members of the party he was leading 

 was killed and devoured last summer, by the 

 inhabitants of Guadalcanor, an island in the 

 South Pacific, was about 50 years old, and a 

 man of high attainments. His vessel, the 

 gunboat Albatross, had been specially fitted 

 up with instruments and appliances to enable 

 him to do effective work in zoological and 

 ethnological lines, and the expedition's 

 disastrous end will be regreted by scientists all 

 over the world. 



A prominent Portland member the Elk's 

 society has an Indian dress on which can be 

 counted over 700 elk teeth. This dress was 

 formerly worn by an Indian of Eastern Oregon, 

 from whom the present owner purchased it. 



