Sept. 1887.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



155 



Breeding of V. Solitarius in Bristol 

 County, Mass. 



BY F. W. ANDROS. 



The only nest with the eggs of this l)ird that 

 has been taken in this county to my knowl- 

 edge, previous to this season, was found by jVIr. 

 F. II. Carpenter at Ilaynham, Mass., on June 

 6th, 1885, (see Pub. No. 3, Bristol Ornithological 

 Club, 1887). It therefore gives nie great pleas- 

 ure to be al>le to add another authentic instance 

 to the one quoted above. Mr. F. T. Lincoln, 

 wliile collecting for nie in the same town men- 

 tioned above, came across a beautiful nest of 

 this bird on May 30th, 1887. It was placed in 

 a walnut tree on the edge of a large pine grove, 

 about six feet from the ground, and is the 

 handsomest as well as the largest nest I have 

 ever seen made bj^ this family. It is composed 

 externally of strips of fibrous bark, beech 

 leaves, strips of dried grass, pieces of hornet's 

 nest, plant down and caterpillar's silk; woven 

 in with this and outside of all, is some very fine 

 white cotton that tlie builders liad access to in 

 some way or other. 1 have an idea it is pieces 

 that I left in that neighborhood while in quest 

 of the " Buteos " late in April. This is lined 

 with pine needles and a few dry stiff strips of 

 grass. The bird sat very close and was ex- 

 amined under similar circumstances as in the 

 foi'egoing case. The nest held three slighth^ 

 incubated eggs at this date, showing that they 

 nest earlier than the other well-known birds of 

 this family. Mr. Lincoln has since informed 

 me that he knows of a certain tract of woodland 

 in this county where several pairs breed annu- 

 ally, but he has never seen them outside of this 

 place. 



Nesting of the Whip-poor-will. 



BY G. S. H., BETHEL, CONN. 



On the morning of June 23rd, 18SG, as I was 

 walking through the woods 1 flushed a Whip- 

 poor-will, {Caprimulgiis vociferus) from off the 

 ground a short distance in front of me, and on 

 going to the spot where she arose I saw a sin- 

 gle egg lying in its apology for a nest at the 

 base of a white oak tree. The woods had all 

 been cut oil" the previous winter from around 

 the tree, except on the north side about twenty 

 feet from it, where there was a clump of small 

 saplings and bushes. I left the egg thinking 



there would be one more by another day, it 

 being situated in a place where I was in the 

 habit of passing from two to three times a day. 

 1 waited two days, visiting it four times in the 

 interval, each time the owner flying directly off" 

 from the Qgg when I was about twenty-five 

 feet from it and alighting in the bushes on the 

 north side. I secured the egg on the 25th of 

 June, and did not go near the place again until 

 the 28th, when I was very much surprised by 

 seeing another egg in the same place but did 

 not see the parent bird. I also visited this 

 twice a day for the next three days, when as 1 

 had seen nothing of the owner I concluded on 

 the first day of July to secun; it but was dis- 

 appointed to find the egg goue. The same pair 

 presumably had nested in the innuediate vicin- 

 ity for several years back. 



Breeding Dates of Birds Near Frog- 

 more, S. C. 



BY WAl/PEH IIOXIE. 



April 13, Oystercatcher. 

 " 27, Black Vulture. 

 " 27, Louisiana Heron. 

 '' 27, Snowy Heron. 



One egg of each of these herons was collected 

 on that date. On the 19th of May all nests 

 were full and incubation in many, quite ad- 

 vanced. 

 Ma}^ 3, Loggerhead Shiike. 



" 3, Wiliet. 



" 7, Night Hawk. 



" 28, Nonpariel. 



Last date observed June 4. 

 Maj^ 28, White-eyed Towhee. 



" 28, Red-winged Blackbird. 



" 28, Cardinal. 



"• 29, Ground Dove. 



'^ 28, Kingbird. 

 These are all e.gg dates. Below I give some 

 dates on which young birds were observed. 

 March 14, Piue Creeping Warbler. 

 April 2, Barred Owl, well fledged. 

 May 19, White-headed Kagle, still in down. 

 April 29, Boat-tailed Grackle. 



" 28, Green Heron. 

 May 3, Least Bittern. 



" 4, Clapper Rail. 



" 5, Great Blue Heron, half grown. 



" 13, Brown-headed Nuthatch. 



" IG, Carolina Wren. 



