) 



THP] OOJ.OGIST" 



37 



ently a claugei'ous positiou, but really 

 as safe a place as could be found. Not 

 being a devotee to egg collecting at the 

 time, the nest remained undisturbed. 

 A few days later, while diiving over 

 this same road the lark was not Hush- 

 ed, but upon approaching upon foot. 

 the bird fluttered out. After that she 

 was seldom startled when a team and 

 conveyance passed over her, and I 

 think she reared her brood in perfect 

 safety. 



Tt has always seemed to me that a 

 Woodpecker on the plains was as bad 

 ofi: as a duck out of \\ ater. I am a Jay- 

 hawker, so they say, born in the prairie 

 and windy State of Kansas, and yet the 

 Red-headed Woodpecker is one of my 

 oldest acquaintances. Fortunately for 

 him and othei's of his tribe, that trees, 

 fence posts and telegraph poles were 

 introduced into this state. A farmer 

 was once telling me of a strange bird 

 that destroyed his fence posts, and 

 made holes in the roof of his house: " a 

 red-headed critter that crawls up my 

 posts and leaves holes in 'em,'' he ex- 

 plained. In certain portions of the 

 country wherein trees are scarce, this 

 species delights to alight on the roofs 

 of houses and drum on the siiingles, 

 much to the dismay of the inmates, who 

 frequently sally out with a gun, and 

 either destroy or frighten the offender. 

 The telegraph poles are also a favorite 

 resort, and I have seen a pair nestiing 

 in a cavity of one. 



The good people of a certain village 

 in this notoi'ious state, had built them- 

 selves a church, one with a wooden 

 steeple, green blinds, and painted a 

 beautiful Avhite. Shortly after its com- 

 pletion, a host of Red-heads, wearied 

 from constant digging into dry fence- 

 posts and telegraph poles, took posses- 

 sion of that wooden steeple and to the 

 chagrin of the elders and deacons, 

 bored it so full of tine round holes that 

 nothing was left of it but a resemb- 

 lance to a honeycomb. A stranger in 

 town made inquii-y about this strange 



steeple, and received the information 

 that it was only a bit of fancy-work,, 

 a new idea of the builders by which the= 

 church was given perfect ventilacion, 

 but of late the Piieonshad taken pos- 

 session on the steeple and gained en- 

 trance through the numerous holes. 

 Probably the stranger thought different 

 as he saw a Red-head emerge from a. 

 hole and drum lustily on the gilded 

 ball, high above the old wooden steeple. 

 W. E. LoucKS. 



Nest and Eggs of Geothlypis macgilliorayi. 



Locality, Northern Idaho, on an east- 

 ern mountain slope. In a pine forest. 

 The trees, in some places were toO' 

 thick for underbrush. In other places 

 dense clumps of brush thrived. Then 

 again the woods would be open and the 

 ground carpeted with coarse grass. 

 The nest was located in a little canyon 

 that cut through such a part of the- 

 woods as the last mentioned. 



The nest was placed in the fork of a- 

 bush. It was about twenty inches from 

 the ground. The nest was composed 

 of light colored grasses. The dead 

 stems and blades were loosely woven 

 together. The structure was lined with 

 line Iilack roots. Among these were a 

 few black -hairs. The outside diameter 

 of the nest was 3.8 iu.;theoutside depth,. 

 3.3 in.; the inside diameter, 2 in.: the in- 

 side depth 1.9 in. 



The nest contained four fresh eggs.. 

 In color they are creamy white, with 

 an inclination to pinkish (they were de- 

 cidedly pinkish before preparation for 

 the cabinet), everywhere spotted with 

 pale lilac; the spots being larger and 

 grouped in a ring about the larger end: 

 also everywhere spotted with reddish 

 brown, lighter or darker: in a few 

 places the brown is more thickly ap- 

 plied and the result is a brownish "black, 

 blotch or scrawl. The eggs measure in 

 inches, .77x.58, .78x,57, .74x.58 and! 

 .76X.56 



The bird was taken and her identity 

 carefully determined. 



J. O. Snyder. 



