392 



THE OOLOGIST 



nearby orchard where nesting is be- 

 gun. Once a nesting site is decided 

 upon, the birds guard it constantly 

 and any other bird that chances to 

 come near to the nest, or even the 

 tree in which it is placed, is promptly 

 set upon and driven from the locality. 



Nests with eggs are to be found in 

 this locality during the first ten days 

 of June. The nests are rather bulky, 

 composed of weed stalks, coarse grass 

 stems, fine rootlets, some little horse- 

 hair and often bits of cotton waste or 

 yarn. Placed fifteen feet to twenty 

 feet from the ground near the end of 

 branch usually of a fruit tree. 



I take the following from my notes 

 for 1901 regarding a pair which I 

 watched at Lakeville, Mass.: "A partly 

 finished nest was found June 10th. By- 

 June 19th it was completed. These 

 birds did most, if not all of the build- 

 ing before 8:00 a. m. — in fact the birds 

 were never seen at the nest, or the 

 tree it was in, after that hour, al- 

 though one of the pair was always on 

 guard nearby. Eggs were laid June 

 20th and 21st. Then for some reason 

 the birds deserted the nest and later 

 Red Squirrels destroyed the eggs." 



"Another site was chosen in an 

 apple tree about 200 feet distant from 

 the first nest. The tree stood alone in 

 a field of about eight acres. This nest. 

 was completed and the first egg laid 

 when I examined it, June 29th. The 

 second egg was laid June 30th, and the 

 last on July 1st. The young were all 

 hatched on the 18th, the period of in- 

 cubation being about 17 days." The 

 birds seldom went far from the nest, 

 apparently finding sufficient food for 

 the young near at hand. No bird was 



allowed to cross nearer than within 

 one hundred feet of the nest whether 

 Crow, Jay, or inoffensive Robin or 

 Waxwing. A nest which I watched in 

 1900 had much the same history, three 



young being reared. They remained 

 in the nest fifteen days. 



If the first nest is destroyed they 

 will generally rebuild near by, often 

 finishing the second nest in a very 

 short time. I* have three nests in my 

 possession which were all made by the 

 same birds. The first was taken June 

 8, 1897, after it had been robbed by 

 boys of three eggs. A second nest 

 was built a few feet away, three eggs 

 laid and incubation begun, but was 

 also robbed. This was on June 24th. 

 The birds nothing daunted, made a 

 third attempt and by July 5th had an- 

 other nest finished and three more 

 eggs deposited. From the above it 

 will be seen with what rapidity the 

 birds must have worked in the con- 

 struction of their nests; however, the 

 second and third nests were not nearly 

 as compact and well made structures 

 as the first, but showed evidence of 

 haste in their construction. 



During August flocks of Kingbirds 

 are often met with along roadsides 

 and river banks. They do not form 

 large flocks, but travel along in loose 

 companies of a dozen or less, and by 

 the end of the month most of them 

 have left for the south. After Septem- 

 ber 1st all are generally gone, but an 

 occasional bird may be met with as 

 late as the 7th. 



The Crested Flycatcher is a summer 

 resident of somewhat local distribu- 

 tion and apparently varying in num- 

 bers during different seasons. During 

 1907 they were very common but since 

 that year I have not found them num- 

 erous until this year (1912). They 

 arrive about May 14th and leave in 

 the fall at the same time as the King- 

 bird, often associating with them dur- 

 ing late August in loose noisy flocks. 



During their stay with us they are 

 shy, noisy birds, haunting the higher 

 branches of hardwood timber, rather 

 than the farm, constantly flying from 



