0l|f Ufarblrr 21 



pheasant and bobwhite flourishing- undisturbed. Within a radius of a hun- 

 dred feet of this grove not less than seven nests of bobwhite were accidental- 

 ly discovered during the season of 191 2. 



The first nest found was in tail grass only a few feet from the road 

 which surrounds the grove. It was well concealed and beautifully arched 

 over, like the nest of the oven bird. It contained 15 eggs. The female 

 was flushed but subsequent visits showed that the male also took his turn at 

 sitting. The eggs were hatched some time between July 7th and 10th. 

 When I visited the nest on the latter date every egg shell had been cut in a 

 regular line a little to one side of the center and in most cases the smaller 

 end had been turned inside the larger half. Ever)- shall lay in the bowl of 

 the nest just as I had seen the eggs before hatching. 



A photograph was taken and the nest collected in situ and is now in 

 my collection, an interesting study of "Bobwhite, N-15, hatched. 1 ' A few 

 hundred feet down the road another nest of 16 eggs was discovered by our 

 mower after he had cut the grass and brush from oVer it. The bird return- 

 ed to the nest and continued to incubate fully exposed and only six feet 

 from the road where many teams, autos and people on foot were continual- 

 ly passing. 



One forenoon while passing this nest I noticed egg shells scattered about, 

 and upon examination I found- that some of the eggs had undoubtedly 

 hatched naturally but others showed signs of violence. It was evident that a 

 crow had discovered the nest early that morning just as the eggs were hatch- 

 ed and destroyed a portion of them. I believe he got away with v the whole 

 brood as no small covey of birds was noticed during the summer or fall in 

 that vicinity. 



In breaking up an old field another nest was found and left undisturbed 

 by turning the plow away from it. I saw the female on the nest several 

 times after the field was plowed, on the little patch of sod not more than 

 two feet square that had been left. Desiring to photograph the nest one 

 day I went to it at 9 o'clock in the morning- and found the old bird incubat- 

 ing. Two hours afterward when I returned with the photographer the bird 

 was gone and not an egg in the nest, and not the slightest evidence that 

 a set had ever been there ; — no broken shells, no particles of yolks, and 

 stranger yet no trace of man or beast, which would have readily shown 

 in the soft plowed ground about the nest. What became of the eggs is to 

 this dav a mystery. 



Two nests with complete sets were destoyed in clearing and burning 

 some scrub lands, and the eggs of two other nests disappeared when they 

 contained 4 and 11 eggs respectively, making only one successful nesting out 

 of the seven. However the fall showed full covies of birds everywhere in 

 abundance. 



