THE OOLOGIST. 



75 



but had scarcely started up when an 

 owl flew from the cavity. What was 

 niy surprise when the presence of two 

 eggs was announced. We took them 

 and continued our tramp. 



On our 'return a second surprise 

 awaited us, for the eggs were so badly 

 incubated that we succeeded, only with 

 great difficulty even after a liberal ap- 

 plication of caustic potash, iu blowing 

 them. They must have been deposited 

 before the seventh of the month. 



The twenty-seventh we again took 

 the field and were re warded with a set 

 of two eggs, these were perfectly fresh. 

 The thirtieth, we took two other sets of 

 two eggs each, one set slightly, the 

 other badly incubated, one of these sets 

 was taken from an old Hawk's nest at 

 an elevation of sixty-seven feet. 



We thus closed one month's collect- 

 ing, well satisfied and convinced that 

 February would furnish still richer 

 finds. 



O. K. Williamson, 



Lawrence, Kas. 



A Trait of the Carolina Wren. 



I have seen a good deal written lately 

 in the Oologist about the " Carolina 

 Wren, but have never seen anything 

 about what is a distinct characteristic 

 around here. 



I mean their fondness for building in 

 artificial places such as I will describe. 



Two or three years ago I saw a pair 

 of Wrens carrying building material in- 

 to a thick evergreen bush, in the yard 

 of an unoccupied house near' where I 

 live. I could not imagine what kind of 

 a nest they were building as there was 

 no hollow in the bush. At last my cur- 

 iosity got the better of my discretion 

 and I went to the bush and parted the 

 leaves. One of the birds hurriedly flew 

 out and I saw the nest about half done 

 inside of an old watering pot. 



The birds quit the nest but I had 

 found out something. I put an old 



paint bucket in a hedge near by and 

 they started to build in it. But a child 

 meddled with it and thej' quit that one 

 too. Then a friend and myself com- 

 menced to put up tin cans, old coffee 

 pots, etc., for Wrens, My friend got 

 about five sets and I got one. 



This was the spring and summer of 

 1890. In 1891 I was more lucky with 

 my cans. April 11, I got a set of five 

 from a can stuck between the boards of 

 a fence by myself. The next three sets, 

 all of five were in a stump, post and 

 bank of earth, respectively. On June 

 17th I got a set of live from a can that 

 I had put in a thicket. On June 25th I 

 got a set of four from an old coffee pot 

 I stuck up in the woods. And on July 

 5th I got a set of three from a can that 

 a non-collecting friend had put up for 

 me. 



I have a very pretty specimen of a 

 nest that a boy gave me. It is in a 

 small round gourd with a hole in one 

 side, such as are hung up for Martins. 

 He put it in a hedge in his yard and the 

 Wrens built in it. 



All of the nests are made of pretty 

 much the same materials. Leaves, 

 grass, roots, pine, straw, moss, lined 

 with horse hair and roots generally con- 

 stitute a nest here. 



The nest in the post was the deserted 

 nest of of a Blue Bird, prettily arched 

 over with green moss. 



Albert R. Heyward, Jr., 



Columbia, S. C. 



Visiting a Bald Eagle's Nest in Virginia. 



I see in Oologist of January, '92, the 

 experience and adventures, of some of 

 our collectors, and thought some of 

 mine might be of interest to others. 



Our Editor warns us not to meddle 

 with Sparrows, So I will try to keep 

 as far out of their way as possi- 

 ble, and will take up the abode of the 

 Bald Eagle. 



After repeated inquiry I found the lo- 



