Sept. 1885.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



133 



increasing slowly. Manhattan, Kan. First, April 

 23il ; by tlie 28th in full numbers. Liter, 111. 

 First, April 38th. Griggsville, 111. First, April 

 24tli. Osceola, 111, First, April 10th. Grand 

 View, la. First, April 26tli. Des Moines, la. 

 First, May 5th. Coralville, la. First May 4th. 

 Jefferson, Wis. On May 6th first saw only one 

 anil on the 7th three more, but silent. May 10th. 

 Bulk of the species and almost the height of the 

 season — a great increase. May 12th. Height of 

 the season. By the 19th the height had passed. 

 Waukon, la. First, May 10. Mitchell, la. First 

 Aprd 38lh. (?) Hastings, Minn. First, May 7th ; 

 one seen. Argusville, Dak. First, May 25th. 



The Oregon Snowbird. 



{.Tunco oregonus.) 



BY A. W. ANXnONV. 



In northwestern Oregon one of our most com- 

 mon birds. Winter and Summer, is the Oregon 

 Junco. In Winter little clattering flocks are 

 about the door-yard at all hours of the day, and 

 in Spring and early Summer the males may be 

 seen perched on fence post or house-top chant- 

 ing their simple song until one almost tires of it. 

 Although the bird is nearly or quite as common 

 with us in the Winter as at the breeding season, 

 it is nevertheless migratory to a greater or less 

 extent throughout its range in this region, our 

 Summer birds leaving only as the Winter resi- 

 dents arrive, so that the change is hardly notice- 

 able. The same individuals return to the same 

 locality to breed, I think, as an Albino was noted 

 for two consecutive seasons from exactly the 

 same place. The second season the bird was 

 shot and upon inquiry I found that the farmers 

 had seen the bird for at least two years before it 

 came under my notice. They also told me that 

 it had always nested in the same place — a dry 

 bank covered by a few low bushes. A great va- 

 riety of places are chosen in the location of the 

 nest — the favorite place being under some low 

 overhanging bush, and is invariably built in a 

 hollow with the top of the nest just flush with 

 the surface of the ground. I have occasionally 

 found nests in holes dug among the roots of 

 bushes or small trees. Whether these holes were 

 dug by the birds themselves I can not say — they 

 were usually about four inches deep — dug hori- 

 zontally or with but a slight incline. Two par- 

 allel roots were generally taken for the doorway, 

 and just behind them in a spacious cavity the 

 nest was built. The opening was about one and 

 three-quarters or two inches in diameter. Nests 

 found in such locations do not seem to differ in 



material or form from those sunk in the ground. 

 A good many nests were found under piles of 

 cord wood, three being found under one pile. A 

 few were found in a railroad cut built on a shelf 

 in the steep bank and screened by a thick curtain 

 of vines, and one was found built in the vines 

 themselves, one side only just touching the bank. 

 Tliey raise three and sometimes four broods dur- 

 ing the season, the first nest being built about the 

 last of March or the first week in April. The 

 comi)osition of the nests taken by the writer 

 varied but very little if any — dry grass rather 

 loosely put together with a lining of cow hair. 

 The eggs are usually four — rarely five — white, 

 sprinkled with fine reddish and brown spots chiefly 

 on the larger end. The marking varies greatly, 

 in some being almost entirely absent, and in 

 others so thick as to almost hide the ground color. 

 Size about 0.80x0.60. Nests of this Junco are 

 often destroyed by snakes, which are very plen- 

 tiful in some parts of Oregon. Several times I 

 have returned for a nest found a few hours pre- 

 viously, and found a very contented looking 

 snake coiled up in the remains of the empty 

 nest, and a pair of very angry Juncos hopping 

 about in the bushes overhead and venting tlicir 

 rage in short, angry, snapping notes. 



A Catalogue of the Birds of Kalama- 

 zoo County, Mich. 



I!Y DK. IIORHIS GIBUS. — PART YII. 



118. [313.] Myidrchus cnnitn/i (Linn.) Cab. 

 Great-crested Flycatcher. A common Summer 

 resident. Peculiar in its fiimily as the only rep- 

 resentative which builds its nest in excavations 

 and natural hollows in trees and stubs. Arrives 

 about May 1st, sometimes later, and rarely as 

 early as April 33d. Cannot say when it leaves us. 



119. [315.] Sayornis fiiscus (Gniel.) Baird. 

 Phcebe Bird ; Pewee. An agreeable, cheerful bird. 

 The first to arrive of the f^imily. Reaches us the 

 first warm spell in March, as early as the 16th one 

 season. Nests abundantly in barns, sheds, in 

 hollow trees in woods and on the under side of 

 the roots of overturned trees in wild places far 

 from the habitations of man, a peculiarity now, 

 which was once undoubtedly a regular habit with 

 birds of early times before the county was settled. 

 Depart for the South in October, remaining until 

 November in pleasant Autumns. 



130. [318.] ConUipiis borealis (Swain.) Baird. 

 Olive sided Flycather. Have only once observed 

 this species in the count}', which occurred 

 May 22, 1885. Although not rare to the north 



