278 



THE OOLOGIST 



on unusual nesting sites, calls to my 

 mind a few such; in over thirty years 

 of active field work I never found but 

 one Brown Thrasher's nest situated 

 on the ground. This one was not a 

 very substantial affair, being built of 

 twigs, rootlets, pieces of leaves and 

 grass, and placed among some wild 

 grape vines, in what was really a pret- 

 ty bower; it contained four eggs, of 

 the usual type. 



The Mourning Dove has furnished 

 me with the greatest number of 

 strangely placed nests, one on the 

 ground under the tall coarse grass 

 in a boggy marsh, made of a few 

 twigs, and rootlets, and contained two 

 eggs, placed close by a public road in 

 the edge of a woods. Another nest of 

 this species, the most beautiful nest, 

 as to situation I have ever seen, was 

 one placed low among some small 

 green plants with a few scattering 

 ones a few inches high as a relief, the 

 soft gray nests of twigs, rootlets and 

 grass and the snowy white eggs, two 

 in number, made a sight to gladden 

 any oologist's heart. The situation 

 was on a ledge in a stone quarry of 

 soft yellow Trenton lime stone. 



A crested Flycatcher one season 

 placed her nest of leaves and other 

 rubbish in a piece of a hollow tree 

 trunk, that hung lodged at the extreme 

 end of a limb, in a very exposed sit- 

 uation. And which would swing con- 

 siderably in the wind. 



Once while a boy I found a nest of 

 a Flicker in a hole in a large old 

 stump by a public road, contained 

 eggs but was disturbed by scholars 

 near by, which reminds me of a Red- 

 headed Woodpecker, who for years 

 occupied a place in the cornish on the 

 front end of the District No. 7 school 

 where I learned my A. B. C's. 



The first nest of the Scarlet Tanag- 

 er I ever found was placed in the ex- 

 treme top branches of a tall white 



oak, up forty or more feet from the 

 ground, contained young; was com- 

 posed of the usual delicate material 

 found in nests of these birds. 



A nest of the Spotted Sandpiper, 

 containing four eggs ready to hatch 

 was placed scarcely two feet from the 

 wheel track of a main public road, and 

 over twenty rods from the river. 



And the nest of the Evening Gros- 

 beak, I was foolish enough to expect 

 was built; well, I suppose up near the 

 Arctic Circle. 



George W. H. VosBurgh. 

 Zion City, 111. 



A Fox's Raid on the Home of a 

 Ruffed Grouse. 



In going over my notes for June 2d, 

 1909, I find an item which had pre- 

 viously escaped attention, regarding 

 the raiding of a Ruffed Grouse home 

 at Ringwood, N. J. Near the northerly 

 end of one of the low hills in this vil- 

 lage during the spring of 1909 I had 

 encountered a male Red Fox on three 

 different occasions, prowling about 

 among the undergrowth. 



On the above date I was again in 

 this neighborhood and near noon had 

 set down to rest on the top of a huge 

 boulder and had fell asleep. After 

 sleeping about a half hour I was awak- 

 ened by the sharp and shrill cry of 

 some bird apparently in distress. On 

 investigating I found a male Red Fox 

 in the act of devouring the remains 

 of a female Grouse and on seeing me 

 he shot off at express speed with the 

 bird still in its jaws and quickly dis- 

 appeared over the top of the hill. I 

 later found the nest on which this 

 bird was brooding and about it were 

 strewn eight mangled bodies of nest- 

 lings about three or four hours old. 



Louis S. Kohler. 

 Bloomfield, N. J. 



