THE OOLOGIST. 



2$ 



Messrs. Strong and Sherin have both 

 taken sets here. Mr. Strong taking 

 three sets last season. One of the nests 

 which he gave me looks very ranch, as 

 Laugille and Davie both say, like the 

 American Redstart's nest. My nest 

 measures, inside, li inches in diameter 

 and 1£ inches in depth. It is composed 

 of vegetable fibers, thistle down, string, 

 some silk cord, horse hair, one or two 

 long straws, and a little dried grass. 

 Mr. Strong found in one or two of the 

 nests fibers from the milk-weed. The 

 eggs are out of proportion compared 

 with the size of the nest but would not 

 be apt to be confused with those of 

 other species when accorn pannied with 

 nest. Most nests are placed about ten 

 feet from the grongd and often in the 

 young growth of trees along our river 

 bottoms; but Mr. Strong has found two 

 nests in orchard trees. They breed about 

 the first of June in this locality; gener- 

 ally a little later. 



Edward P. Carlton, 

 Wauwatosa, Wis. 



Collecting in the Marsh. 



On May 11th, a friend and I started 

 up the Mississippi River in a small boat 

 for Spring Lake to look for water birds' 

 eggs. After a hard row of five miles, 

 we arrived at the lake at 11 o'clock a. 

 m. We then proceeded to the head of 

 the lake and arrived there at noon. 

 After eating our dinner we left the 

 boat and began to wade among the 

 rushes. I had not gone veiy far before 

 I flushed a Sora Rail. I found the nest 

 at . the foot of a clump of rushes. It 

 contained ten eggs. The nest was 

 made of last year's reeds and lined with 

 a few small pieces of the leaves of the 

 surrounding rushes. It was very com- 

 pact and did not look large enough to 

 hold all the eggs as some of them were 

 piled on top of the others. 



After wading around for some time I 

 found a Marsh Hawk's nest containing 



five young birds and an egg. Some of: 

 the birds were quite large and showed 

 fight. I took the egg which I after- 

 ward found to be rotten. By this time 

 I began to feel a little tired so Ave got 

 into the boat and started back. 



On the way down I found two Flori- 

 da Gallilunes' nests Avith seven eggs iu 

 each nest. The nests were built in at 

 clump of rushes and Avere composed ot 

 last year's rushes, and Avere lined Avith. 

 the leaves of the same. The eggs were,- 

 a creamy-bull', thickly spotted with, 

 dark brown and umber. 



Several Black Terns began flying; 

 around us uttering sharp cries. I 

 thought they must have nests and 

 began to search for them. After- 

 searching awhile we collected a set ofj 

 three and a set of two eggs. Also two- 

 singles. The nests Avere on decayed 

 vegetable matter and sunken muskrat 

 houses, and I found one egg on a 

 stump. A few pieces of rushes were 

 on the nests to keep the eggs from roll- 

 ing off. Eggs were all fresh. 



We had not paddled Aery far when 

 my friend found an American Coot's 

 nest containing seven eggs. They were 

 a creamy-Avhite uniformly spotted Avith 

 dark brown and black This lake is a 

 favorite breeding place for these birds. 

 Where the water is clear it is "black'" 

 Avith them. It is quite a sight for the 

 collector when they leave the water.. 

 We found a large number of their nests.. 

 Some of the birds would not leave the- 

 nest until we could nearly touch them* 

 with a paddle. 



Next we found several nests of the- 

 Pied-billed Grebe. The usual number- 

 of eggs in a nest was seven, sometimes- 

 only six. Most of the eggs were cover- 

 ed with green vegetable matter. 



Among other birds that abound here 

 are the YelloAV-headed Blackbirds. We 

 collected quite a number of these eggs. 

 A large number of Ducks breed here,, 

 but Ave Avere not enabled to find any on 

 that day; although I have found them 

 before. 



