6o £be MarWer 



After the nest is finished the entrance is usually closed by the use of a few 

 dry leaves, and I have often found this to be the case when the female was 

 incubating. The bird is a close sitter and will not leave the nest unless 

 almost stepped upon, and may be easily captured with the hand. The eggs 

 are white, densely spotted and, with very rare exceptions, five in number. 



Phoebe 



(Sayornis phoebe) 



DURING my thirty years of residence at Floral Park, near the limits of 

 Greater New York, I have never seen in this vicinity but one nest of 

 the Phoebe. In fact, it is the only one I have ever found on Long Island 

 west of the Suffolk County line. It is altogether probable, however, that this 

 bird does breed sparingly in Nassau County. The nest in question I found 

 last June, or rather my attention was called to it by some school children 

 when I was visiting the State Normal and Training School, at Jamaica, 

 Borough of Queens. I was in the third story of the building, which is a 

 large brick structure, and was asked to lookout the window and see a birds' 

 nest, which was built upon a stone window cap of the story below. It was 

 exposed to the open sky above and to the elements on all sides, excepting 

 one, the wall against which it was located. It contained five white eggs, 

 distinctly spotted with black, and I was in a quandry as to its identity until 

 the return of the bird, which came and went on the nest, and I saw it was 

 none other than a Phoebe. I had never before seen a spotted egg of this 

 bird, as they are invariably white, neither had I ever seen a nest of this 

 species located in an open and exposed position, it being the universal habit 

 of the Phoebe to locate its nest under a bridge or some other suitable shelter. 

 I should never have thought of finding a Phoebe's nest in the city, par- 

 ticularly in such an unusual location, and with spotted eggs. As a whole, 

 it is the most radical departure from a general rule that I have ever observed 

 in the breeding habits of any bird. 



The Ruby-Throated Hummingbird 



( Trochihts colnbris) 



ONLY one species of Hummingbird inhabits Eastern North America and 

 fortunately that one, the Ruby-throated, is found in all localities and 

 breeds within the city limits of New York. Only two or three nests have 

 been found here at Floral Park for many years. On August 13th, 1903, a 

 nest with the usual pair of tiny, white, oblong eggs upon which the female 

 was sitting, was found on the limb of a shade tree on Tulip avenue. This 

 is an unusually late date, for the Hummingbird nests mainly in May and 

 June. A pair of Hummingbirds frequently nest in a honeysuckle that trails 



