THE OREGON NATURAIvIST. 



63 



AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE 



VARIABILITY OF NIDIFI- 



CATION INSTINCT. 



BY H. TULLSEN, AUSTIN, MINN. 



Oil May 28th, 1896. ill Knox Coun- 

 ty, Illinois, I discovered the nest of a 

 Turtle Dove (Hctopistes carolinensis) 

 upon the bare ground. Or rather 

 there was no nest, for tlie solitary egg 

 was lying in a mere hollow on the 

 ground. The nest if it may be so 

 called was situated in the midst of a 

 clump of horsemint and hazel sprouts. 

 On the 29th of May a second egg was 

 deposited in the nest. I paid a visit 

 to the nest almost daily. On my ap- 

 proach the mother bird would leave 

 the nest and seek to lead me away by 

 a.ssuming a limping gait. 



On June 15th the nest contained 

 two young Doves. Nine days after- 

 ward, when I disturbed them, the 

 young birds left the nest, and ran 

 about. When I placed them back 

 they remained there. A few days 

 afterward, when I returned, I found 

 the nest empty and one of the young 

 birds flying about near by, with one 

 of its parents. 



No.v it is an unusual thing for a 

 Turtle Dove to nest upon the ground. 

 In fact I had never before heard of a 

 nest so situated. 



Their lude platform nests, built 

 in bushes or trees, are well known. 

 The instinct of nest building is not so 

 perfect as we are apt to regard it. 

 Instincts are subject to variation and 

 in the ca.se iil)Ove referred to, we have 

 a good example of the variability of 

 the nesling instinct of the Turtle 



Dove, or peihaps, instead of being an 

 ordinary variation it is a reversion to 

 a long lost habit of nesting upon the 

 ground. For it does not require so 

 very great an eflfort of the mind to 

 imagine the steps by which a habit of 

 nesting on the ground was discarded 

 and a habit of nesting upon trees and 

 bushes was acquired. 



WINTER BIRD NOTES. 



Since the first heavy snowfall at the 

 middle of November when all our mi- 

 grating birds disappeared, there has 

 been but little manifestations of bird 

 life in this localit}', even among those 

 species that remain with us all the 

 year round. 



With the first snowfall the Snow- 

 flakes usually make their appearance 

 and these are now frequently seen in 

 large flocks. A solitary Crow — an 

 unusual sight here in the Winter Sea- 

 son — was observed on December 13th; 

 and on the 30th one of our local papers 

 reported the shooting of a White or 

 Snowy Owl, not far from the town 

 that measured five feet five inches 

 from tip to tip of its wings. This 

 species is but a rare Winter visitor. 

 On New Year's day a Meadow Lark 

 made its appearance at the barn on 

 East Field on the East of the town. 



Besides the House Spairovvs which 

 are always here, the only other species 

 noted since the advent of Winter were: 

 Chickadees, Ruffled Grouse, Kinglets, 

 Downy and Plairy Woodpeckers, and 

 Wliite breasted Nuthatches. 



W. L. K. 



lyistowel. Out. 



