Birds of Indiana. 1027 



County (Barnett). On the wooded hillsides and in the ravines along 

 Sugar Creek in Parke and Montgomery counties I found it common 

 in May, 19 and 20, 1887. At Lafayette it is not common, but breeds 

 (L. A. and C. D. Test). In Dekalb County Mr. H. W. McBride found 

 it tolerably common and breeding in May, 1890. It has also been noted 

 rarely in that county in the vicinity of Waterloo by Mr. J. P. Feagler; 

 at Sedan, by Mrs. Jane L. Hine. Mrs. Pline also observed it one sum- 

 mer (June 4) at Fish Lake, Steuben County. It has even crossed the 

 line into Michigan, where it is noted as rare in Lenawee and Hillsdale 

 counties (Cook, Birds of Michigan, p. 128). 



In the northwestern portion of Indiana, beyond the Wabash Eiver, 

 I do not know of its occurrence, yet it has been taken on the shore of 

 Lake Michigan at Waukegan, 111., above Chicago, May 21, 1876 

 (Bulletin, Essex Inst., Vol. VIII., 1876, p. 98). Since 1879 I have 

 noted its arrival at Brookville almost every spring. The earliest date 

 it was first seen is April 17, 1896; the latest. May 3, 1882. It has 

 been very hard to obtain data as to its movements. However, the 

 following dates give the reported first appearance from the places 

 and years named: Knox County, April 24, 1881; Bloomington, i\.pril 

 25, 1885, May 4, 1886; Spearsville, April 25, 1895, April 29, 1894; 

 Lafayette, May 8, 1897, May 21, 1892; Waterloo, May 3, 1896. I 

 have observed them mating by April 26, 1881, and as late as May 18, 

 1883, but am inclined to think some years they begin earlier then 

 the first named date. They proceed at once to nest building. Mr. 

 E. E. Quick found a nest five miles south of Brookville June 3, 1882. 

 The locality is similar to that usually occupied, so I let the discoverer 

 tell of it: "It (the nest) was sitviated on a densely wooded hillside, 

 on the almost perpendicular bank of a gully, and was overhung by 

 the base of a small shrub. It was composed of dried leaves and lined 

 with fine shreds of bark of the grapevine. When driven from the 

 nest, the bird refused to leave the vicinity, but with distended tail and 

 fiuttering wings moved round me at a distance of a few feet, until I 

 called a companion, on whose appearance she flew away. The nest 

 contained two addled eggs and one half-fledged young. The eggs were 

 about the size of those of the summer Yellow Bird (D. cestiva), with 

 diameter proportionately greater. They are pure white, dotted every- 

 where with light reddish-brown, most thickly at the larger end" 

 (Journ. Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist., 1882, p. 94). 



Prof. W. S. Blatchley took a nest and six fresh eggs, and one of the 

 Cowbird, near Bloomington, May 12, 1886. The nest was at the base 

 of a clump of ferns, and was composed of the leaves of "Maiden Hair" 

 fern. The next day Prof. B. W. Evermann took a nest from a similar 



