356 



THE OOLOGIST. 



If one records with pen and ink, the 

 song of a bird, that is, translates it in- 

 to sounds which can be placed on pa- 

 per, and then lays the description 

 away, it will usually be found that the 

 next description of the same song will 

 not correspond with the first record. 

 In this manner five or six, or more dif- 

 ferent songs may be credited to a spec- 

 ies whereas it has bin one or at the 

 most no more than two or three. If we 

 go into the woods and fields with our 

 minds made up about a birds song, we 

 will hear that song just as we have it in 

 our mind. For instance, one bird says, 

 'bob-tv/ii f e,' another 'whip-poor-will,' and 

 still another 'kill-deer,' and it is diffi- 

 cult to lit other suitable words to the 

 song-notes, because we have known 

 them so long. However, we well know 

 that American strangers to the notes 

 might adjust the songs to decidedly dif- 

 ferent syllables, and it is utterly be- 

 yond our ability to say how a French- 

 man or German might define the song. 



The fire-bird sometimes sings during 

 the hours of darkness, and it is one of 

 the seven or eight species who are mu- 

 sical at night in my locality. It is only 

 during May and June that it favors us 

 with its notes at ni^ht, and then only 

 at rare intervals, and in a quarter of 

 a century of observations I have only 

 noted the song during the hours from 

 ten p. m. to one a. m. a few times. 



Soon after arriving the bird begins 

 mating, although I am satisfied that 

 this species, like nearly all other 

 song-birds, is principally mated on ar- 

 rival. The nests are not larely begun 

 by the middle of May, but more often a 

 week or ten days later. 



The nest is a very shiftlessly con- 

 structed affair, and is so poorly put to- 

 gether that the eggs can nearly always 

 be seen through the thin bottom, or 

 even sides, >and collectors frequently 

 govern themselves in regard to date of 

 climbing the tree, from a daily or week- 

 ly inspection of the nest from the 

 ground. 



Nests are nearly always found on 

 horizontal limbs, and at from three to 

 ten feet from the main body of the tree, 

 and at an elevation generally of twelve 

 to thirty feet above the ground. One 

 nest which met my notice was above 

 forty feet, and two were just below 

 that height. One nest was only eight 

 feet up and another barely ten feet. 

 The structure is often placed in a hori- 

 zontal fork, but is frequently built on 

 top of a limb and supported at the sides 

 by small shoots. It may be that nests 

 are occasionally found in upright 

 crotches, but they are never taken in 

 these situations to my knowledge. 

 Neither are they usually found close to 

 the trunk. 



The fire-bird often selects high woods, 

 and more nests have come to my notice 

 in oak woods than any other. In these 

 situations it genei'ally prefers white oak 

 trees, Quercus alba. In lower lands, 

 the birds select beech and sometimes 

 elm. On one occasion I found a nest in 

 a wild crab-apple and a friend took a 

 set in an ironwood. 



Small twigs and roots mainly form 

 the structure. To these, dead grass, 

 and strips of bark, are occasionally 

 added, and at times dead leaves are 

 found. 



The earliest date at which I have 

 taken a complete set is May twenty- 

 third, while the best date collecting 

 fresh eggs from the 40th to 43d paral- 

 lels is about June tenth. It is not rare 

 to find fresh sets as late as July first 

 and I have taken eggs on the eighteen- 

 th of that month. It is not easy to ac- 

 count for these late nestings, but it is 

 probable that they are the result of dis- 

 turbances to the first attempt, for it is 

 genei'ally believed that this species 

 rears but a single brood during the 

 season. 



The eggs are so well known that but 

 slight description will be given here. 

 In color they are of a bluish-green, in- 

 clining to green and are marked and 



