July 1887.] 



AISTD OOLOGIST. 



Ill 



not found other kinds of green leaves, as the 

 trees do not put forth leaves in North Texas as 

 early as they do in the middle portion of the 

 state. 



The number of eggs laid are three or four. I 

 have taken as small a number as two, but in 

 such cases the eggs were extremelj^ hard to get, 

 and as I could not spare time to visit the nest 

 more than once, took them while I had an op- 

 portunity. But at such times the eggs were 

 perfectly fresh. Mr. J. A. Singley of Giddings, 

 r.ee County, Texas, in an article, (in current 

 volume, March O. and O., page 38), emphati- 

 cally pronounces two or three eggs as the num- 

 ber laid bjr this species; and says he has heard 

 of some "alleged'' sets of four eggs, and has 

 traced all of these large "sets" to a collector 

 in Cooke County, Texas. He also states that 

 he has examined over seventy-five nests con- 

 taining eggs, and has never found four. I will 

 here say that I have not, out of live year's col- 

 lecting in Cooke County, had the pleasure of 

 examining more than a dozen nests, and in 

 every case excepting two, the nest contained 

 four eggs. I mean by this the full sets of well 

 incubated eggs. 



Mr. Singley seems to infer by his article that 

 Buteo lineatus elegans does not breed at all in 

 Cooke County, and that they are permanent 

 residents of Lee County. Now I will state that 

 Mr. Eobert Ridgway in a letter to Mr. Rags- 

 dale of Gainesville, said he had never found 

 this species east of the Rocky Mountains. 

 And Mr. Singley wants to claim the honor 

 of being the only person collecting eggs of 

 this species in Texas. 



Mr. Singley also says, "Mr. Ragsdale states 

 that he has never found more than three eggs 

 of this species in one nest.'' Since I read the 

 above I have had a talk with Mr. R. and he 

 says he has never taken a set of eggs of the 

 Red-bellied Hawk. Mr. Ragsdale is not an 

 " oological " collector and takes very little in- 

 terest in eggs ; but at the same time he is a 

 great lover of birds, and one of the leading 

 ornithologists of Texas. His occupation, dur- 

 ing the breeding season, is such that he cannot 

 spare time to collect ; therefore, he cannot say 

 positively as to the breeding of this bird in 

 Cooke County. I have shot two different spec- 

 imens from the nest, and positively identified 

 them as this species. And on other occasions 

 saw the birds as they left the nest, and easily 

 identified them by the deep chestnut on their 

 bellies. 



Nesting Habits of the Clay-colored 

 Sparrow. 



BV J. W. PRKSTON, BAXTER, IOWA. 



The spring of 1883 I spent in the interesting 

 lake region of Northei-n Iowa, and South-west 

 Minnesota; after which I drove leisurely north- 

 ward, camping where I liked, through Martin 

 County flats, among the chain lakes, past Fair- 

 mont, Minn., Winnebago County, Good Thun- 

 der, and that romantic region about Mankato, 

 where the Sioux Warrior contended so fiercely 

 for his home. 



Especially interesting is that part near where 

 the Lasneur flows into the Blue Eaith River. 

 Tall-timbered blufts shut in the swift, rocky 

 streams, while not far distant on Lyons Creek 

 that charming little cascade, Mlnneofa, leaps 

 from its rocky bounds sixty feet into the chasm 

 below, then rushes over rocks and among tree 

 i-oots on its noisy way to the Minnesota River. 



In this pleasant manner I travelled into the 

 "Big Woods," around Madison Lake, where 

 some time was spent fishing and studjnng the 

 plants of that section, which were new to me; 

 after which I i-eturned homeward by a route 

 leading past many lakes, through prairies and 

 woods, via Albert Lea, Minn., and Mason City, 

 Iowa. 



On the 29th of June, while driving along the 

 dusty road, between Bristol and Lake Mills, 

 Iowa, a small Sparrow, (presumably S. domes- 

 tica) flew into a clump of large bushes not five 

 paces from my wagon. More to break the mo- 

 notony than that I cared for the specimen, I 

 secured the bird. The report of the gun star- 

 tled another from the bush, when search re- 

 vealed a handsome nest with four fresh eggs, 

 which were secured with the parent bird. To 

 my delight, they proved to be Spizella pallida. 

 The late date I do not account for. 



My next acquaintance with these charming 

 little fellows was during the season of 1885 at 

 Detroit, Minn., where, as a guest of Pi-of. W. 

 W. Cooke, I had the opportunity of exploring 

 the contiguous country which is diversified by 

 lakes, larch swamps, woods and prairie. About 

 the fringes of )»rush, near the borders of timber 

 this species is to be found ; where the low hills 

 are half prairie, half brush. During the first 

 week in June two nests were found, one a few 

 feet from the ground in a small larch, the other 

 on the ground in a tuft of grass. In both in- 

 stances incubation was far advanced. 



During the season of 1886 I was especially 



