July 1890.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



Ill 



Arlinoton Heights. Yellow-breasted Chat. 

 Arliiif^ton Heights. A specimen was taken June 

 Cth.— [ir. r. Iladley. 



South Fiiamixguam. — One of your circulars 

 has the statement that you would like " par- 

 ticulars in taking rare specimens." 



To-day's egging was rewarded by a "find" 

 of nest aiul four fresh eggs of the Golden- 

 winged Warbler, {Ilelinhithophnya cJmj.sojJtera), 

 and it seems to me that the bird is uncommon 

 enough, as a New England breeder, to make 

 an interesting item. 



The female was flushed from her nest and 

 shot. The nest itself was placed at the base 

 of a few alder shoots (upright between the 

 stems), and at the edge of a low thicket of 

 new growtli oaks and maples in a very open 

 spot. Outwardly the cup-shaped nest was 

 loosely built with dead leaves and within of 

 coarse grasses and grape-vine bark, with a 

 lining of line, dry grasses. The resemblance to 

 the Yellow-throat's nest is complete. 



The eggs are of the size of a Redstart's, 

 white, with small dots of reddish and a few 

 points of Vandyke brown, collected at the 

 larger end, but not forming a distinct ring. 



I have found two sets of eggs of Guiraca 

 ludovicianus, one of Turdus muKteUnus, and a 

 nest of Black and White Creeper (to-day), with 

 three young and an egg ready to hatch, which 

 I saved in halves. 



Have found an uncompleted nest of a Vireo 

 wliich, from its small size, I think must be the 

 Solitary (or 'blue-headed'). 



A set of five almost pure white Bluebird's 

 eggs (fresh) was a curiosity secured a few days 

 !''o*»' — [F. E. Coombs. 



Wellesley. — A young Black-billed Cuckoo 

 {Cnccyzus erythroplhalrmiH) killed itself to-day 

 by ilying against a window pane of my room 

 after an lo moth which had just hatched out 

 and had crawled up the window to expand its 

 wings. — [Shelley W. Denton. 



.Inly 4. 



I have on three different occasions seen 

 the Grebe on her nest, and once my friend 

 raised his paddle to kill a bird on her nest, 

 but I stopped him, and the bird seemed to 

 slide off the nest and under the water. It 

 scarcely made a ripple. 



At another time I ran on a nest that was 

 just hatching, and the Grebe ran away in the 

 grass (the nest was on the edge of a large 

 bog) and made a great fuss calling, etc. 



The nests here are usually in the water, 

 loosely made of moss, grass, roots and mud, 

 and are about as large as a bushel basket, and 

 completely saturated with water, which woidd 

 prevent generating heat sufficient to hatch the 

 eggs. 



Cantwell says completed sets are covered. 

 I never have noticed any difference in the 

 covering as nearly all are covered, but the eggs 

 can usually be seen through the covering. He 

 also says he has stood on the edge of 

 the marsh and could see three or four 

 nests. 



In a day's collecting in a boat 1 have taken 



ten nests and would probably travel five to 



seven miles. I do not think 1 ever found two 



nests nearer than twenty or thirty rods apart. 



D. Hatch. 

 Oakflcld, Wis. 



Further Notes on the Nesting of the 

 Ruby-Crowned Kinglet. 



Nesting of the Thick-billed Grebe. 



In tlie Feburary number of the O. & O. 

 there is an article on the nesting of the Thick- 

 billed Grebe by George G. Cantwell that does 

 not agree exactly with my experience with 

 that bird. There have been several articles 

 advocating the theory that the eggs were 

 hatched by the heat of the nest. 



Yesterday I was to the woods all day hunt- 

 ing up above species. In knocking about I heard 

 a $ getting off that peculiar note of his, and 

 soon located the little chap; that done, I sat 

 down, lit a cigar, and waited for something to 

 turn up. In a little while the 9 came along 

 and by her actions I knew the nest was near, 

 and full of young, when I considered I had 

 the spot pretty well fixed I began to climb the 

 trees and in one hour and ten minutes I liad 

 the nest. It was as I expected, full of young, 

 and as near as I could make out the number 

 was nine. The nest was tlie prettiest one I 

 have yet found, being lined with Partridge 

 feathers, and placed o\\ the straight limb, about 

 twenty-five feet from the ground, and about 

 twenty inches out on the limb. This nest 

 I intend to take, with the young, also the other 

 one I have located, named in my last, and 

 mount the whole business with the old birds. 



//. Austen. 



