THE OOLOGIST. 



185 



they were found to be breeding in al- 

 most any out-bouse, and under bridges, 

 but they disappeared with the Blue- 

 birds. The Blue-birds came back, and 

 are now as common as ever, but the 

 Phoebes still remain away. It is a 

 pity, too, they are such friendly hirds; 

 here, a forerunner of spring rather 

 than the Blue-bird, which remains 

 during the winter; and among the first 

 of the smaller birds to breed. I have 

 found them as early as March 7th. I 

 found only one nest last year; this 

 year none, and don't remember of hav- 

 ing seen a single bird. 



As to whether birds in general are 

 growing scarcer is a hard question. 

 It seems to- me that there is little no- 

 ticable change. Perhaps, though, the 

 decrease of one species is more mark- 

 ed than the increase of others. As 

 I have said, the Phoebe has almost en- 

 tirely disappeared, while the Wood 

 Thrush is much more abundant than 

 formerly; and may this tribe continue 

 to increase, for the Mocking-'bird in 

 all his glory, cannot compare with the 

 Wood Thrush in song. All the semi- 

 domesticated birds, Chipping Sparrow, 

 Cat-bird, Brown Thrasher, Humming- 

 bird, etc., seem to he holding their 

 own in spite of that "rat of the air," 

 English Sparrow. 



JACOB BOSTIAN, 

 iStatesville, N. C. 



More Notes on the Swamp Sparrow. 



In reply to 'Mr. Miller's article in 

 the June Oologist, I desire to make 

 the following statement. 



First, I believe the Swamp Sparrow 

 to he a more common resident in 

 Virginia than in any other Atlantic 

 state, for the reason that it is nearer 

 the center of the breeding territory, 

 and has a greater number of rivers 

 and marshes than any eastern state. 



As Mr. Miller seems to fear some- 

 what that I have mistaken the Song 

 Sparrow for the Swamp Sparrow, I 

 can assure him that there is absolute- 

 ly no doubt about the identity of this 

 species, as nearly all the nests I have 

 were taken from tall grasses, partly 

 submerged by several inches of wa- 

 ter; and none of them over ten feet 

 from water; moreover, female birds 

 were often flushed from nests, after- 

 ward alighting on the ground in some 

 nearby grass. 



The nest of the Swamp Sparrow is 

 generally composed of dead marsh 

 grasses entirely, but at times it var- 

 ies widely, using almost anything 

 available, such as leaves, sticks, bits 

 of paper and the down of cat-tails. On 

 several occasions I have found nests 

 lined carefully with fine grass and 

 horse-hair. The depth and construc- 

 tion of these nests vary immensely. 

 Some are so loose and fragile as to 

 nearly drop to pieces when removed 

 from nesting site, while others are 

 heavy and compactly huilt. The earl- 

 iest date I record is a set of five eggs 

 taken May 6, '06; while the latest set 

 contained four eggs, taken July 12, 

 '0'6. 



Out of a series of nine sets in my 

 collection, all collected from Chester- 

 field county, in 1906, five sets contain 

 four eggs, and four contain five. I 

 believe in a large series sets of four 

 and five would be equally common, al- 

 though a collector recently stated that 

 the only three sets he had ever found 

 contained five eggs each. iSets of three 

 are unrecorded in this locality. 



Mr. Miller's wholesale robbery 

 would be very slight compared to a 

 heavy freshet washing down the river. 

 In June and July, especially, the water 

 often raises 8 or 10 feet in the James 

 River after a heavy rain and often 

 leaves the high grass flat , on ' the 

 marsh. Then what 'becomes of the 



