56 



IHE OOLOGIST, 



song; and on investigation it proved 

 to be tlie same bird perched on a 

 picket trying to welcome tlie falling 

 flakes. 



I never knew of a bird whose win- 

 ter home should be in the Sunny 

 South, to sing in a snow storm be- 

 fore. Probably others have. 



PERCY L. JUDD, 



Rathdrum, Idaho. 



Early Song Sparrows. 



On February 25, 1909, I was out for 

 one of my usual walks and saw a 

 sparrow fly across the road. I stop- 

 ped and went over to see what it was 

 and it kept hopping around in the 

 bushes and limbs by the creek, and 

 then I caught sight of another one. I 

 soon saw that they were song spar- 

 rows, so left them and went away on 

 my walk; and the next day, thought 

 I would go back and see if they were 

 still there. After looking around a 

 still there. After getting there 

 and looking around a bit, I 

 found the same two birds eating 

 I never thought any more about 

 them, until about a week afterwards, 

 was passing there, and saw the same 

 two birds, and they looked just as 

 comfortable as though it was summer. 

 STUART CLARKE. 



From Virginia. 



Mourning Doves. 



B. W. Graves, of Clay Center, Kan- 

 sas, reports twenty-five nests of this 

 species in a two acre orchard near 

 Abilene, Kansas, on June 4th, one of 

 which contained three eggs. On July 

 29th there were still four occupied 

 nests in this orchard, and during the 

 first week of September still another 

 nest was found there with eggs. The 

 species must be more plentiful in the 

 West than further toward the Eastern 

 coast; or perhaps less persecuted by 

 so-called sportsmen who shoot this 

 beautiful and innocent bird, even dur- 

 the nesting season as "game." 



H. H. Bailey, of Newport News, Vir- 

 ginia, reports the arrival of the Os- 

 prey at "El Rancho," February 17th; 

 also the presence of an American 

 Goshawk there the same day. He also 

 says his semi-domesticated Mallards 

 began laying in February, and Blue 

 Birds with eggs in their nests March 

 24th of this year; and Carolina Wrens 

 and Brown-headed Nuthatches with 

 finished nests at the same time. 



From Pittston, Penna. 



E. W. Campbell, the well-known tax- 

 idermist of this place, reports the fol- 

 lowing: 



No. 533, Pine Siskins, here on Fri- 

 day, February 12; about a dozen; six 

 or seven miles back of town, back of 

 Campbell's Ledge. They cannot come 

 any nearer town as the lumber hog 

 has been here and done his work of 

 destruction. In a little while there 

 won't be a tree standing for a bird to 

 sit on ; let alone build a nest in. 



Redpolls are here also; both kinds, 

 the Greater and Lesser. 



511b, Bronze Grackle; a flock of 

 seven of these birds, October 17, 1908, 

 East of the Alleghany Mountains. 

 Three of these decided to remain with 

 me. 



The largest Great-horned Owl came 

 to me November 14, 1908. It is near- 

 ly black, and the wing spread is 58 

 inches. 



A Blue-winged Warbler's Nest. 



On June 6th, 1908, while mowing 

 brush for a neighbor, I had the good 

 luck to find the nest of a Blue-winged 

 Warbler, situated fourteen inches 

 from the ground in a small clump of 

 blackberry bushes. Nest composed of 

 very fine grass, lined with horse hair. 

 It contained six fresh eggs. The bird 

 flushed from nest. I watched her for 

 some little time afterwards. This is 

 the first nest of this Warbler I have 

 known being found in Ashtabula coun- 

 ty, Ohio. 



