228 



THE COLCGJST. 



things were progressing finely, but alas! 

 like some unfortunate "men, they seem- 

 ed doomed and nest No. 3 followed iu 

 the steps of its predecessors. Whether 

 they laid a fourth set or not I do not 

 know but sincerely hope if they did, that 

 they were left unmolested. 



The nest is a beautiful structure often 

 beiug made almost entirely of willow 

 down with perhaps a little moss and li- 

 chens and a few cobwebs mixed in, and 

 being invariably lined with down and 

 small feathers, The bird itself is one of 

 our smallest and plainest, the main, 

 color being brown with alighter hue on 

 the under parts. 



The egg is perfectly white, slightly 

 larger than a hummingbird's, and some- 

 what conical in shape. Seven is an 

 average set though they sometimes lay 

 but five and rarely as many as eight. 



My greatest pleasure has been in 

 watching them in the construction of 

 their nests. Lying flat upon my back 

 under a poplar tree one afternoon, I 

 watched a pair that were building there 

 and enjoyed myself immensely for some 

 time. The nest, when first discovered 

 was about half finished and I had hard- 

 ly seated myself when the old birds ar- 

 rived. They were much troubled by 

 my presence, in their excitement drop- 

 ping the cargo of moss which they had 

 brought with them, hopping nervously 

 about from twig to twig and keeping 

 up an excited chatter for some time. 

 But findiug that I was not disposed to 

 remove myself, they gradually, by a 

 few successive hops from twig to twig, 

 approached the nest. Finally -the fe- 

 male made bold to hop in at> the top 

 while the male left to procure more 

 material. 



The nest now began to cut up strange 

 antics, jumping up and down and sway- 

 ing from side to side. It was quite ev- 

 ident that my little friend on the inside 

 was exerting herself remarkably. Soon 

 her mate arrived with fresh material 

 in the shape of a few small feathers 



from a neighboring poultry yard, and 

 the two went inside and wove the feath- 

 ers into the bottom of the nest. 



Thus they worked all the afternoon, 

 always busy and ever uttering their low 

 contented chit, chit, at intervals of a few 

 seconds. A few days later and I re- 

 turned to see how things were progres- 

 sing, but, as I said before, alas! the 

 cruel hand of man had destroyed all 

 the labor of a few days before. I say 

 the hand of man, though I strongly 

 suspect that the hand which accomplish- 

 ed the work belonged to a man of very 

 tender years, as is too often the case. 



Volumes could be written concerning 



these interesting multnm in parvi, if I 



may use that expression, but I refrain 



from further expatiating on their merits. 



Wilfred H, Osgood. 



San Jose. Cal. 



A Ramble in May. 



It was a delightful May morning, a 

 morning when the aroma of the woods 

 seems to penetrate even the busy, bust- 

 ling city, and invite a ramble in the 

 mossy depths whence it comes. 



Such a temptation was not to be re- 

 sisted. So gathering together my col- 

 lecting utensils, I boarded a W. S. & B. 

 railroad train, and was soon landed in 

 the pleasant little village of Frankfort 

 with its back ground of prettily wooded 

 hills. 



Leaving the depot I started up the 

 bank of a little stream, which came 

 rippling down from the hills, startling 

 the Spotted Sandpipers, and noticing 

 several of their nests. 



A pair of Rough-winged Swallows 

 were flying up and down the stream, 

 and after a vigorous search, the nest 

 was located in the side of the bank. 

 The opening to the nest was very round 

 and deep, somewhat similar to a King- 

 fisher's burrow, which has been the case 

 iu all of these nests of my collecting, 

 and fmms a distiupnishi""- rnfrk when 



