March, 1886.] 

I find several pretty structures of the Yellow 
Warbler, with uncomplete sets, in the alder 
bushes by the brook side. 
The first week in June advances our birds in 
breeding still more. Wood Thrushes, Baltimore 
Orioles and Purple Martins are nesting, and I 
found a set of four eggs of the former in a nest 
placed on a fallen birch, and I have noticed that 
such places seem favorite situations for them to 
build upon. 
The Purple Martins are decreasing in numbers 
and the usual reason of the “ persecution of man” 
cannot be applied in this case, for two score of 
years ago no house was considered as finished un- 
less a number of “martin holes” was bored under 
the eaves for the accommodation of these birds, 
yet notwithstanding the universal protection given 
them, the gables of our farm houses respond no 
more to their social twitters, and the “Cape Cod 
Swallows” are fast becoming less numerous in 
Bristol County. 
eee 
A Trip to a Swan’s Nest. 
BY H. H. BRIMLEY, RALEIGH, N. C. 
The following incident in connection with a 
bird whose nesting habits are little known this 
side of the water, may possibly be of interest to 
some of your readers. Some years ago the writer 
was an inmate of a large boarding school near the 
town of Bedford, England, and, in company with 
two other boys, employed many of the Saturday 
holidays in collecting eggs. On one of our expe- 
ditions, in the summer of 1877, along the banks of 
the river Ouse, some four miles below Bedford, 
we discovered the nest of a pair of Mute Swans, 
(Cygnus musicus,) on a reedy island in the middle 
of the river, and at once resolved to add at least 
one of their eggs to our collection. On the follow- 
ing Saturday, my two companions, with myself, 
procured leave of absence and hurried off to the 
boat yard, where we were soon in possession of a 
light pair of oars for the afternoon. Thad then in 
my possession a small silver-mounted, single 
barrel muzzle loading pocket pistol, of which I 
was exceeding proud, probably chiefly for the 
reason that I never could kill anything with it. 
It was duly loaded, capped and put into possess- 
ion of the man at the helm. Pulling a steady 
stroke, and with many speculations as to the 
probably number of eggs we should get, we at 
length arrived in sight of our goal. We slowed 
up, then rowed beyond and all around the island 
to find out the whereabouts of the birds. Wesaw 
one (presumedly the female) on the nest, appar- 
ently oblivious to our presence. The other we 
could not discover, so we ran our boat ashore at 
AND OOLOGIST. 
39 
the upper end, made her fast and prepared for the 
fray. All of us had a very wholesome respect for 
the prowness of the Mute Swan, being familiar 
with many tales of their attacking and grievously 
injuring sundry specimens of the genus boy, and 
therefore made preparations to repel the attacks 
of the enemy, should they show fight. My com- 
panions, each brandishing a scull, formed the van, 
whilst the artillery, under my command, de- 
fended the rear. We approached the nest cau- 
tiously and surrounded it. Emboldened by the 
passive attitude of it’s occupant, we carefully 
pushed the bird on one side, and by so doing, ex- 
posed to our delighted gaze three eggs, just one 
apiece. These were quickly appropriated and 
transferred to the pockets of the writer, and, al- 
lowing the old bird to resume her former position, 
which she did immediately, the retreat com- 
menced. We laid the eggs on a bed of rushes in 
the bottom of the boat, got aboard and pushed off 
down the river. Just as we cleared the lower end 
of the island, the male bird was seen clambering 
up the bank and approaching his mate. We had 
not proceeded more than a few hundred yards 
when we saw him slide into the water and give 
chase. Finding swimming too slow, he raised his 
enormous wings, and, beating the water with his 
paddles, made a bee line for the boat. His whole 
appearance denoted excessive rage, and not wish- 
ing to engage in a combat with only our frail and 
narrow craft between us and about ten feet of not 
over warm water, we ran the boat ashore and 
jumped out, armed as before. On he came, still 
making the spray fly with his broad feet until 
within less than five yards of where we stood, 
when he slid into the water and swam backwards 
and forwards a time or two, as if hesitating 
whether or not to attack us. Finally he swam out 
into the middle of the river, raised himself out of 
the water, and again came at us, but as before, 
sliding down to aswimming posture before reach- 
ing land. This he repeated several times and at 
length left us and swam off up the river to rejoin 
his mate. I do not know whether he would have 
attacked us had we remained in the boat; cer- 
tainly all his movements gave one the idea of 
utter fearlessness and excessive anger. In repass- 
ing the island on our way back, he was standing 
by the side of the nest, having apparently for- 
gotten our existence. 
The eggs were of a greenish white color, very 
variable in dimensions and shape and of a size 
proportionate to that of the bird. I regret that I 
cannot give measurements, but I unluckily broke 
the one that fell to my share some years ago. 
The nest was simply a heap of rushes, with a 
depression in the top, some two feet in height. 
