THE OOLOGIST. 



225 



ground. Mr. E. C. Davis mentions that 

 in Cook count} 7 a favorite nesting place 

 is in low mesquite on the praries. 



From my experience in Falls and Mc- 

 Lennan counties I have found them 

 nesting in rather low mesquite trees 

 from (j to 10 feet high; also in trees 

 from 15 to 20 feet high that border on 

 country i-oads. 



The lowest nest I have ever found, 

 however, was at a height of about five 

 feet above the ground. The nests I 

 have examined, several of which are 

 before me now, are composed of a 

 waxy weed, cotton, a few leaves, and 

 in some a little grass. They are bulky 

 and some are very loosely made. I 

 suppose, however, that several ■ other 

 materials are used whenever they are 

 found abundant in the locality in which 

 the nest is built. 



The usual nest complement is five, 

 sometimes only four, and this season I 

 found several sets of six. 



During the breeding season should 

 you notice a pair, which by the actions 

 evinced great uneasiness, by walking 

 off a short distance and carefully scan- 

 ning T he trees near by, their nests can 

 generally be easily found. 



The Scissor-tail is of a tyrannical dis- 

 position and seems to take great de- 

 light in the pursuit of crows and vul- 

 tures whom tbey viciously attack. In 

 1891 I watched a pair pursue a vulture 

 for over a mile. 



They make frequent trips to the 

 towns and their sharp cries and contin- 

 ual fluttering noise alarm cage birds 

 almost as much as would the appear- 

 ance of a White- rumped Shrike. 



Another trait regarding the building 

 of their nests 1 have noticed this year. 

 Several nests I have found had a great 

 deal of loose cotton and other materials 

 hanging promiscuously from the twigs 

 near at hand, giving the nest the ap- 

 pearance of an old one which had been 

 partly torn down. This, however, 

 could not have been the case as I had 



carefully examined the same trees but 

 a short time before and these ratty 

 nests always contained the full comple- 

 ment of eggs. Could this have been 

 done for a blind? It is quite an inter- 

 esting sight to watch six or seven of 

 these birds during mating in early April 

 as they keep a continual fluttering and 

 making peculiar revolutions and darts 

 in the air. 



J. K. Strioker, Jr., 



Waco, Texas. 



When Preparing a Birdskin. 



Make a clip across the skull between 

 the jaws, from one eye-socket to the 

 other; a longitudinal one on each side 

 from this to the back of the skull; then 

 connect these two by a cross clip of the 

 skull just above the foramen magnum: 

 remove the brain from this opening. 



Always put a small stick covered 

 with cotton in the neck. The stick 

 'should extend some distance back in 

 the body. 



Never put the skin in a paper cylin- 

 der. It will make it look like anything 

 but a bird. Take a thin s eet of co - 

 con, lay it on a board, and by putting 

 strips under the edges of the sheet, 

 make a trough to fit the skin. Lay the 

 skin in, breast up, and arrange it. 



These suggestions have come to me 

 after handling thousands of skins. 



J. O. S. 



How a Canon Wren had Revenge. 



In a large room of an adobe building 

 used as the office of the Silver Mining 

 Co., in south western Chihuahua, Mex. 

 on the edge of the wall just under the 

 roof, a Canon Wren had the audacity 

 to build her nest. I was after eggs 

 myself, so I permitted the nest to be 

 completed and a full complement 

 of eggs to be laid therein, then they be- 

 came my pi'operty, much to the dis- 

 comfort of the builder. Nothing daunt- 



