THE OOLOGIST 



399 



ing songster that I discovered it was 

 the rare Sprague's Pipit. 



When you hear this bird in its breed- 

 ing haunts, you will find many, many 

 nests — I don't think. I looked in vain 

 all through late May and most of June 

 for evidence of its nesting and only 

 rarely did I find a bird of this species 

 on the ground; because they have the 

 knack of alighting and proving so 

 quiet and elusive that to the average 

 collector it doesn't appear possible for 

 a Pipit to be in the country. 



On most any clear day you will find 

 them high in the air, sometimes out 

 of sight uttering their melodious ring- 

 ing song. This of course, is in the vi- 

 cinity of their summer home, but the 

 nest may be a mile or more away from 

 where you hear them. 



It was not until June 28th, 1905, 

 that I found and brought to 'earth my 

 first specimen of this bird from off 

 her nest of four badly incubated eggs. 

 This was in the Park region before 

 noted, and the bird was in the midst 

 of a black sand plain some miles in 

 extent, covered with short grass. The 

 nest was simply a depression in the 

 ground among the short grass, made of 

 dead grasses, canopied over as usual 

 with the standing grass. 



I found no other nests in this region 

 and I left regretfully, without my per- 

 fect set of this bird which I so much 

 desired. 



But in May, 1907, while holding 

 down my claim in Stanley County, 

 South Dakota, I found my much covet- 

 ed, perfect set. I was returning home 

 from a trip to Wellsburg after neces- 

 sary supplies, when within sight of 

 and a quarter of a mile distant from 

 my shanty, I noticed a hole in the 

 ground seemingly made by some small 

 rodent. I rode on slowly a short dist- 

 ance, when the Bedilia, delia, delia 

 notes of a Sprague's Pipit burst out as 

 it seemed, from a clear sky, and the 



author of the song was out of sight 

 and remained so. I turned my bronco 

 and rode back, and after a few mo- 

 ments search, I found the nest that 

 I had looked so long and hoped so 

 much for. 



It was simply a depression scratched 

 in the soil to the depth of six inches, 

 among short grass that had been mow- 

 ed the season before. This was sub- 

 stantially lined with dead grasses and 

 canopied over with some scattered 

 dead grass left from last year's rak- 

 ing. It contained but one egg and I 

 was unable in my own mind to place 

 the identification satisfactorily, and 

 I could hardly wait until the full set 

 would be completed. Thoughts of 

 that egg with the queer mode of nest- 

 ing, crowded my mind in every idle 

 moment. 



After waiting the full alotted space 

 of time for the bird to complete the 

 set I returned to the nest from Ash 

 Creek, where I had been after the 

 mail, finding the bird at home on the 

 full set of five eggs. I went to my 

 shanty after my gun and returning, 

 found her again incubating, and by a 

 fortunate shot soon had in hand my 

 much longed for Sprague's Pipit with 

 perfect nest and five eggs. 



This was on May 26th and a good 

 day for eggs, as I soon collected four 

 sets of three eggs each of Swainson's 

 Hawk and one set of nine of the Pin- 

 tail. 



This bird is rare there, possibly one 

 pair to each township, and I heard 

 but three other males through the 

 summer, and these in widely scatter- 

 ed territory. But in late August and 

 early September I secured a dozen or 

 more specimens, and easily, too. 



W. H. Bingaman. 

 Algona, la. 



In The Future. 



For 1913 we have several leading, 



