THE OOLOGIST. 



227 



own close to that on which the female 

 is sitting, and thus amuses himself 

 while waiting for the young to hatch. 

 Generally he seems dissatisfied with it 

 and pulls it to pieces many times before 

 he gets it to his liking. I have noticed 

 this habit only with the Wrens over the 

 porch and in the outhouse, not having 

 had opportunities for obseiwing others. 

 The food of this Wren is mostly of 

 grubs found in. wood, and caterpillars, 

 which it gathers with great dexterity. 



After the young are able to fly, they 

 follow their parents on a tour around 

 the neighboi'ing fences, the old ones 

 feeding them all the while, like a family 

 of Vireos. 



The Bewick's Wren lays from four to 

 seven eggs, very similar to those of the 

 Carolina Wren except in point of size, 

 the average size of the Bewick's Wren 

 being about .64x.51, the Cai'olina, as be- 

 fore stated about .73x.60. 



The eggs are white spotted with red- 

 dish brown, forming a thin wreath at 

 the larger eud. In comparing the two 

 birds we see a great many points of sim- 

 ilarity, the long curved bill, the bluish 

 line over the eye and the long, barred 

 tail being common to both species. 



The song of the Bewick's Wren cer- 

 tainly deserves attention. He is a cheer- 

 ful songster, and in my opinion is fully 

 the equal of his much vaunted brother, 

 the Carolina Wren. He siugs the whole 

 day long in the nesting season, and 

 every time he brings a worm to his pa- 

 tient mate, he flies to a branch of the 

 nearest tree, and pours forth a song of 

 gladness and rejoicing. 



"Thryothorus." 

 H. B. B. 



Christian Co., Ky. 



The Californian Bush-Tit. 



Psaltriparus minimus caUfornicus. 



Along towards the end of our cht ek- 

 ing; lists we come to a number 743a, the 



Californian Bush or Least Tit. During 

 the past season I have found, in them. 

 a very interesting study, often watching 

 them for hours as they busied themselves 

 iu the construction of their homes. Beau- 

 tiful homes they are too. Hanging from 

 the extremity of some swaying live-oak 

 branch, rocked by the 'breeze, and se- 

 cure from depredation, the home of the 

 Bush-Tit is indeed one to be proud of. 

 And fully conscious is the owner of its 

 value, for he always, very indiscreetly 

 chirps and chatters and makes a great 

 fuss as soon as you approach the tree 

 which contains his nest. 



The nest is generally situated in a live- 

 oak tree near water, although I have 

 found nests iu gum, pepper and popular 

 trees at some distance from the creek. 

 One day in March I took a walk along a 

 creek with a friend and we found about 

 a dozen nests in three or four hours. 

 Two were in eucalyptus trees and the 

 rest of them were in live oaks and the 

 most of them contained seven fresh eggs. 

 though one or two sets of six were taken 

 and several nests found with but one 

 egg in. 



The birds are pretty well distributed 

 over the state and remain with us near- 

 ly all the season. Quite frequently they 

 lay two sets in a season or even more 

 when circumstances compel them to. 

 One nest that came under my obser- 

 vation was built in the last of February 

 in a pepper tree right over the sidewalk 

 and a set of six eggs were taken from it, 

 Immediately afterwards the foolish 

 birds commenced Jthe construction of 

 another nest in the tree next to the one 

 in which the first had been. I thought 

 I would leave them rear their young in 

 peace this time, but some oue else 

 thought differently and the second nest 

 went the way of the first. 



The little fellows did not seem at all 

 discouraged at this however but imme- 

 diately repaired to a poplar tree about 

 20 yards distant and soon had the third 

 nest completed ■ and six eggs laid and 



