162 



ORISriTHOLOGIST 



[Yol. 12-:N'o. 10 



This was all made plain the day following, 

 when in passing the house of a young farmer 

 in this neighborhood, he saluted me with "Hel- 

 lo Doc, don't you want some little hawk's 

 eggs?'' And he immediately brought out to 

 me four white elliptical beauties. Upon ask- 

 ing him where he obtained them, he pointed to 

 the swamp oak thicket where my Short-eared 

 Owl's nest was located; and so the mystery 

 was solved and all was well. 



The eggs on blowing, I found to be fresh and 

 averaging in size about one and one-half by 

 one and one-fourth inches. 



The young faimer mistaking the owls for 

 hawks is about a fair sample of the knowledge 

 the people in general have of the birds. Not 

 knowing the names even of many of the most 

 common birds and having still less knowledge 

 of their habits. 



Nesting of the Maryland Yellow- 

 throat. 



BY WILLAIJD L. MARIS, WEST CHESTER, PA. 



A very interesting and quite common little 

 bird of this locality, the Marj^land Yellow- 

 throat, ((reothlypis trichas) has for some time 

 baffled my eft'orts to find its nest. However, 

 this spring, I found the long looked for treas- 

 ure, a beautiful set of five eggs. 



This well-known bird arrives in this locality 

 about the tenth of Maj^, and after a few days 

 spent in selecting a suitable nesting ground, at 

 once commences building. During the incubat- 

 ing period, the female is seldom seen, unless a 

 close approach to the nest, where almost her 

 whole time is occupied, is made ; and even then 

 as soon as the nest is toni;hed she will vanish 

 in the woods. The males may be seen fre- 

 quently and quite often not in the locality of 

 the nest, which, together with the fact of its 

 being placed on the ground in the woods at the 

 foot of a bush, and being sometimes domed 

 over, renders it no easy matter to find it. 



On the 28th of May, of the present year, 

 when on a collecting tour a few miles from 

 home, I chanced to see a male Yellow-throat 

 fly from the edge of a woods. It being a favor- 

 able place for this bird of course I immediately 

 began a search, but for fully fifteen minutes no 

 trace of a nest could be found, and I nearly 

 trod on it before the female flew away, thus 

 showing me her hiding place. The nest was 

 made chiefly of bark, and lined with a little 



horse-hair, and located in the usual place 

 which this bird chooses, namely — on the 

 gi-ound at the foot of a small bush. It was 

 rather bulky for so small a bird, and the black 

 lining well set oft" the five fresh, pinkish tinted 

 eggs. The brownish red spots were scattered 

 all over the eggs, although chiefly in a ring 

 around the lai-ger end. On two there were a 

 few small blotches. In size they were some- 

 what smaller than eggs of this bird usually are, 

 measuring: .G2x.47; .59x.48; .61x.47; .59 x 

 .47 and .01x48. 



Dates of Birds Nesting at Raleigh, 

 N. C, in 1887. 



BY C. S. HRIMLEY, RALEIGH, N. C. 



April 7. Red-shouldered Hawk, {Buteo linea- 

 tus') set of three ; another set of two from the 

 same birds taken May 28th. 



April 21. Barred Owl, {Strix nelmlom) nest 

 containing grov/n young found. 



April 21. Bluebird, {SiaJia siaJis) (eggs). 



April 2G. Pine Warbler, (Dendra'ca pinns) 

 (young). Carolina Tit, {Parus earolinensis) 

 (young). 



May 4. Mockingbird, (Mimns pnhjglotU(s) 

 (eggs). Last nest found July 30 (three eggs). 



May 5. Whippoorwill, {Gaprimnlgus voci- 

 ferus) (well incubated). 



May 20. Turkey Buzzard, {Cathartes mira) 

 (eggs). 



May 24. Great Crested Flycatcher, {Myiar- 

 cJuis crinitus) last set found June 15th. 



May 31. Green Heron, (Butorides virescens) 

 (eggs). 



June 8. Orchard Oriole, {Icterus spiiriits). 



June 11. Yellow-breasted Chat, (Icteria vi- 

 rens) last set found July 2nd. 



June 14. Acadian Flycatcher, {Empidonax 

 acadicus) nest with two nearly fledged young 

 found. The nest was a very flimsy aftair, look- 

 ing very much like a Chipping Sparrow's, {Spiz- 

 ella domestica) with the lining pulled out, and 

 the young birds were plainly visible through 

 the bottom of the nest. 



July 27. Yellow-billed Cuckoo, {Coccyzus 

 americanus) nest with three eggs found. 



August 19. Another nest of Yellow-billed 

 Cuckoo found within a hundred yards of the 

 first one. This nest only contained one egg 

 which was left till August 22nd and then taken, 

 as no more had been laid. It i)roved to be fully 

 incubated but the embryo was dead, or it ought 

 to have hatched in a couple of days. 



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