Sept. 1885.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



141 



and their cries were deafening in the still night 

 air. In the woods Fieldfares, Redwings, Branib- 

 lings, and Willow Grouse abounded, and I saw 

 many fledged young of the three former species. 



In a naturalist's shop in Tromso were many 

 beautiful specimens of Bar-tailed Godwits in their 

 rich red Summer plumage. My servant told me 

 he shot tbem regularly during the Spring migra- 

 tion. How strange it is that they should be so 

 seldom found in the breeding season! Trinus 

 also had Grey Phalaropes, in their red Summer 

 dress, which he had shot in Spitzbergen the year 

 before. On July 9th I visited some of the islands 

 lying off Bodo; but the season for eggs was now 

 nearly over, and, with the exception of one nest 

 of Richardson's Skua, with two eggs, many of 

 the Arctic Tern, and one nest of the Rock Pipit 

 with three eggs, we got nothing. A pair of 

 Turnstones evidently had their young here. One 

 thing which struck me as peculiar in the habits 

 of the northern breeding birds was the large 

 clutches of eggs laid l>y such species as Bramb- 

 lings, Bluethroats, Willow Wrens, Fieldfares, 

 Redwings, Shrikes, Wheatears, &c. Nearly all 

 the nests contained as many as six eggs, and it 

 was not unusual to find seven; one nest of a Red- 

 start had eight eggs. 



In concluding my rambling notes, I take this 

 opportunity of thanking Professor CoUett for 

 giving me a copy of his excellent paper on the 

 "Ornithology of Northern Norway." I have 

 carefully endeavored to convey exactly what I 

 saw, and I may add that this paper is little more 

 than a reproduction of what I jotted down at the 

 actual time of observation. This, I hope, will 

 give it freshness; and although there may not be 

 anything novel, I trust there may still be found 

 something interesting, and perhaps useful, to fu- 

 ture naturalists visiting that portion of East Fin- 

 mark known as Tanadalen. 



Californian Oological Notes. 



BY H. 1{. T.WLOK, AL.VMEDA, CAL. 



As the collecting season of '85 has been for me 

 a very successful one, a few short notes and ob- 

 servations concerning some of our Californian 

 birds may prove of interest. I took my first set 

 on February 13th. This was a nest and two 

 badly incubated eggs of the Anna Humming- 

 bird, which were secured after no little difficulty, 

 as the nest was placed about thirty feet from the 

 ground near the end of a long, slender limb in a 

 Cypress tree. Since it takes this Hummingbird 

 about eight days to complete the building of its 

 nest, it must have commenced building some time 

 in the latter part of January. 



On the 14th of March I took a set of six fresh 

 eggs of the American Long-eared Owl. Eggs 

 were deposited with a few Owl's feathers on what 

 had been a large rat's nest, in a small Oak about 

 twelve feet above the ground. Asio americamis 

 is considered quite rare in this locality, though 

 common in many other parts of the State. In 

 searching for the other Owl's nesis on the same 

 day, I climbed up to another rat's rest, and find- 

 ing it much too dome-like in shape to suit an Owl, I 

 used my fist vigorously on the top of it, and soon 

 succeeded in forming a very good nest. I then 

 Irf t that locality intending to return another time 

 and collect the rent in eggs should any venture- 

 some Owl take possession of my nest for a domi- 

 cile. Happening to be near my Owl's nest some 

 ten days later, I hit it with a rock, and ofl with a 

 great fluttering flew a Long-eared Owl, doubtless 

 the same bird that had supplied me with the set 

 of six taken March 14lh. On reaching the nest 

 I found but one fresh egg, which I lefl; untouched 

 in order to secure the full set later. When I re- 

 turned to get the set the nest still contained but 

 the one fresh egg which had been badly peckctl 

 by some liird, possibly a Californian .Jay. 



During the breeding season the noisy Plain 

 Tits are common birds on the woody peninsular 

 on which Alameda is situated, building their 

 cosy nests of dry grass, hair and feathers in the 

 many sheltered holes in the Oaks. From the 

 fact that many of them begin to construct their 

 nests as early as March 7th, the selection of a 

 hole well sheltered from the rain, is a very nec- 

 essary precaution. So very secure are some of 

 the places selected for nests that the eggs can 

 often only be reached after the most vigorous 

 use of a sharp hatchet, or by means of a delicate 

 scoop attached to a long stick. 



It is a rather singular fact that the Plain Tit- 

 mouse is a common bird in some localities, while 

 in other parts of the country, apparently as ele- 

 gible, they are seldom if ever seen. The desper- 

 ate manner in which these interesting birds repel 

 all intrusion of their nests is really remarkable, 

 and often proves fatal to the interests of the col- 

 lector of perfect sets. When the Plain Tit has 

 commenced the incubation of her eggs it is some- 

 times ahnost impossible to remove the bird from 

 the nest, and when this is finally done, the collec- 

 tor is fortunate indeed if one or more of the eggs 

 are not found to be injured by the claws of the 

 bird in her frantic efforts to protect her nest. 



When probed with a stick the bird responds by 

 spasmodically fluttering her wings, and at the 

 same time emitting a curious hissing noise. This 

 IS probably done with the view of scaring off the 



