THE OOLOOIST. 



165 



Totten. The opening had been enlarged 

 a little, and the bottom lined with a 

 •quantity of moss and hue strips of yel- 

 low birch bai'k. The eggs are of a chalky 

 white, with a rather rough surface, and 

 ■are all more or less stained from con- 

 tact with the nest. Incubation was so 

 far advanced that I had great difficulty 

 in blowing them The measurements 

 are as follows: 1.18x1., 1.19x1.03. 1.17x 

 1.02, 1.21x1.03, 1.23x1. The Owl was 

 quite tame, allowing me to get a good 

 view of her bill as she looked at me 

 from the hole, the bill being the most 

 prominent distinguishing feature be- 

 tween the Saw Whet and the Richard- 

 son's, which are otherwise very much 

 alike. In the Saw Whet it is black and 

 in the Richardson's, yellow. On 

 Tapping the tree the Owl left the nest 

 and flew about twenty yards alighting 

 on a small dead limb of a spruce, ap- 

 parently having no more difficulty in 

 flying through the thick woods in the 

 daytime than in the night. She again 

 allowed me to approach to within about 

 fifteen feet of her, finally flying off into 

 the thick woods out of sight. The lin- 

 ing of this nest may possibly have been 

 placed there by a squirrel as it is the 

 ■same kind of material that is used by 

 that animal in making its nest, and 

 they often select an old Flicker's hole 

 for a home. 



May 21, 1892 I found a nest of the 

 Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canaden- 

 sis). It was excavated in a small pop- 

 lar stub about twenty feet from the 

 ground and contained six fresh eggs. 

 The cavity was lined with a consider- 

 able quantity af fine cedar bark with a 

 few strips of birch bark mixed in and 

 when removed from the hole formed 

 quite a little nest itself. The eggs are 

 white, thickly covered with different 

 sized spots of reddish brown, looking 

 very much like those of the Black-cap- 

 ped Chickadee, but are larger, as the 

 following measurement shows: .63x47, 

 ,64x48, .64x49, -62x47, .63x47, .66x47. 

 I was forced to shoot this bird to make 



sure of her identity. This is the third 

 nest of the Nuthatch that I have found, 

 but the first that contained eggs. The 

 other two were opened on June 5, 1884 

 and both contained young. 



Howard H. Mc Adams, 

 Oak Bay, N. B. 



The Chestnut-sided Warbler. 



Dendrceca pennsylvanica. 



Perhaps one of the most interesting 

 of the wood warblers, which inhabits 

 this section is the Chestnut-sided. The 

 leaders arrive from the south about 

 May 5th, and a few days later they are 

 here en masse. Then their cheery song 

 is frequently reiterated from the tree- 

 tops, and occasionally when they are 

 anno3^ed, they utter the peculiar note, 

 which has been happily likened to the 

 sound produced by striking two pebbles 

 together. My experience has taught 

 me to look for these birds in abundance, 

 in, or in the vicinity of swampy woods. 

 They are not, however strictly confined 

 to trees, as their appellation {Dendrceca) 

 implies, but are found in bushes, and 

 open land, but in lesser numbers. 



During the migrating season when 

 the number of residents is swelled by 

 the birds of passage, it is sometimes 

 difficult to distinguish the specific char' 

 acteristics of the warblers; especially 

 when they frequent tall trees, and do 

 not utter their respective songs; but the 

 species under consideration is a notable 

 exception. I can usually recognize this 

 bird, when against the sun -lit sky he is 

 apparently black, and devoid of color. 

 His silhouette has some peculiavityj 

 which establishes his identity, and pro- 

 tects him from the collector's gun. 



May 21st a few years ago, my atten* 

 tion was attracted by a pair of these 

 birds around a tangle of briars, grape 

 vines and bushes. By diligently watch' 

 ing them, I discovered the proposed site 

 of their domicile, which was about two 

 feet from the; -ground, audita dense, 

 mass of briars. 



