Sept. 1890.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



141 



with us all winter and doffs liis summer suit as 

 soon as apple blossoms unfold; few build in 

 northern New Jersey before the beginning of 

 July and later. The latter part of August and 

 September is the time I hear most young ones 

 squeaking after the old birds to be fed. On 

 one occasion I watched a nest of young near 

 my house that left the nest on the last of 

 September whicli was probably a second nest. 



I need not go through the quotations from 

 various oinitliohtgists as to the probable 

 reasons of this late breeding, such as i>roper 

 food for their young, or materials for building 

 their nests, etc. One tiling is certain, they 

 are as joyful as any of the amorous birds in 

 spring that commence housekeeping promptly 

 as soon as the weather permits them. Who 

 has not heard tlie Goldfinch's sweet notes 

 among the fruit tree blossoms? Often a flock 

 on one tree all sing together as if trying to 

 outsing each other. I have noticed for a num- 

 ber of years that after the flood of dandelion 

 seed was over the Goldfinches became scarce, 

 too, and 1 began to suspect tliat the birds left 

 to follow up the flowers as the harvest ap- 

 pro.ached further north, following up the 

 ripening seed of which they are intensely fond. 

 They will so eagerly aligiit on the roadside or 

 any sheltered corner where the first ripe seed 

 appears that they may be very closely ap- 

 proached, and as the seed gets ph-ntiful many 

 more birds arrive, to disappear when tlie seed 

 becomes scanty. This season I made test ob- 

 servations and found that on the beginning of 

 June few Goldfinches were left; after I saw 

 none for two weeks; on the 2()th of June I 

 saw two male birds, next week one or two 

 more; but not till July did I see little parties 

 of two or three males in company. It was the 

 middle of July before I saw any females. In 

 this part there are very few thistles, so I 

 do not think they stoi> for that, as some sup- 

 pose. The birds are quite common from July. 

 If some ornithologists will take observations 

 farther north to track the birds it could soon 

 be found whether my theory is correct. 



Henry Hales. 

 Ridfrewood, X.J. 



moss, drawn together in heaps and anchored 

 in a bed of rushes. There were then about 

 fifty nests, and a few contained the full com- 

 plement of eggs, which is rarely over four. 

 The nests were all placed where the water was 

 about eighteen inches deep and fifty feet from 

 the shore. I visited them again on the 10th of 

 July and found their numbers had augmented 

 considerably. Now there were hundreds breed- 

 ing there, and at a distance they looked like a 

 heavy black line as they sat on their eggs. On 

 my first visit I marked some of the unfinished 

 sets as I was anxious to know the period of 

 incubation. Not seeing any liatched I broke 

 one, to test them, which was about two thirds 

 incubated, but the chick was dead. I selected 

 an egg from each nest of those near me and 

 found them all the same. I passed through 

 the whole colony occasionally testing them 

 until I reached those that were more recently 

 laid, but although here incubation had not so 

 far advanced they were all destroyed. Until 

 then we had had no bad thunder storms. In 

 these high altitudes lightniug will sometimes 

 strike a lake and kill most of the fish, but I 

 certainly cannot attribute this catastrophe to 

 that, but it is my firm belief the sun was the 

 only destroying elemeut. Being fully exposed, 

 the old birds found their task unbearable, 

 left their nests, and there is not a doubt in my 

 mind but tliat they were all literally cooked. 



Wm. G. Sinith. 

 Lovelaml, Col. 



Nesting of the Eared Grebe. 



On June 20th, in company with Mr. Dennis 

 Gale, I visited a colony of Eared Grebes (C'o- 

 lynihuK niyrlcoUlH cnllfornia)uif<) that had com- 

 menced nesting in an alkali swamp in this 

 locality. Their nests were composed of water 



Nesting of Olive-sided Flycatcher. 



The above named, though not common, are 

 yet regular visitors during the summer 

 months, and are found frequenting the old 

 clearings and open places in the country. 

 They may be seeu perched on the tiptop of 

 some old rampike, tall spruces, or out on the 

 end of a dead limb of some hardwood tree, and 

 are easily distinguished from other birds by 

 their upright position on the branches, and 

 their peculiar cry of two, two, two, two, two, 

 two, the last sound being sharper and longer 

 drawn out than the first. When on the wing 

 and darting after insects, from the top of one 

 tree to the other, their flight is almost identi- 

 cal witli that of the cedar bird, and at a dis- 

 tance, one very apt to be confounded with this 

 latter species. 



Three different pairs of these Flycatchers 

 came under my observation during the months 

 of June and July last, hence following remarks* 



