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THE OOLOGIST. 



THEOOLOG1ST 



A Monthly Magazine Devoted to 

 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOCY. 



FRANK H. LATTIN, ALBION, N. Y. 



EDITOR AND PUBLISHER. 



Correspondence and items of Interest, to Mie 

 Student of Lirds. their Nests and Eggs, solicited 

 from all. 



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My First Nighthawk' s Nest. 



The 8th of last June, Avhile out walk- 

 ing with my brother cm a large hill east 

 of our city, I found a Nighthawk's nest. 

 It was a warm day and not having any- 

 thing to do, (it being Sunday) I deter- 

 mined to take a walk. So I went to the 

 hill, named above. This hill is very 

 rocky, and there are a few small pines 

 and poplar growing there. 



While walking along, suddenly a 

 large bird flew up directly in front of 

 me, which I soon determined was a 

 Nighthawk. It circled around for 

 some time, and then alighted on a log 

 fence near by. Thinking there might 

 be a nest near we went to work to try 

 to discover it. Neither of us ever hav- 

 ing seen or found a Nighthawk' nest, 

 we did not know where to look. I had 



hardly taken more than three steps for-, 

 ward when I saw two eggs lying on the 

 ground. There was not the least sign 

 of a nest. The eggs were simply lying- 

 on the hard bare ground. They were 

 so much like the ground (which was 

 greenish-black) that it was hard to dis-- 

 tinguish them from it. 



1 was surprised to see the eggs in, 

 so conspicuous a place. There was. 

 nothing in the least to conceal it. I 

 probably should not have found it, but. 

 for the bird leaving it. Soon as I found 

 the nest I went off and hid to see what; 

 the bird would do. After waiting for 

 some time, the bird flew off from the- 

 fence, and began circling around in the 

 vicinity of the nest. This it kept up 

 for about five minutes, when she settled 

 down on her nest. While flying around 

 she seemed to be trying to make out if 

 her eggs were in their accustomed place, 

 for sometimes she flew directly over it 

 and within a few inches of it. 



Soon as she had settled down on her 

 nest we went away. The next day I 

 returned to see if any more eggs had 

 been deposited, but finding that none 

 had I took one of the eggs and left the 

 other there, to seeiwhat she would da 

 with one gone. 



The agg I found when ] came to blow- 

 it, was slightly incubated. For a day 

 or two I was detained from going to see 

 how my bird was getting on, but when 

 I did go I found that the nest had been 

 deserted, and so I took the other egg. 

 I now have a fine set of eggs of the 

 Nighthawk in my collection. 



1 have often seen it asked whether, a. 

 bird could tell if any of her eggs were 

 missing. I have come to the conclu-. 

 siou that they can, or else why should 

 this bird have left her nest when I took 

 an egg, but stay there when I did not. 

 take any? I have also noticed the same 

 with other birds. 



U. N. Clark, 

 Sturgeon Bay, Wis, 



