10 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 6-No-. 2. 



marking's though of similar size, the spots 

 being larger and more distinct, of a dark 

 reddish brown color and chiefly collected 

 about the large end though not in a ring. 

 I did not look again in 1879, but the 2oth 

 of May, 1880, I repeated the same experi- 

 ence in the same place, securing another 

 set of four fresh rosy eggs, prettily and 

 neatly marked in the usual manner ; and 

 again on the 3d of June, only nine days 

 later, I found another nest and four more 

 eggs in the same spot. All these four sets 

 were taken from within a radius of four 

 feet, and I fancy were all of the same pair 

 of birds, though veiy differently marked, 

 for I have observed that Hooded Warblers 

 are very unsocial, having never seen two 

 pairs of them occupying the same locality 

 or nearer than thirty rods of each other. 

 If it was the same pair it would imply 

 that the robbing of nest and eggs was no 

 great loss to them if they can be so 

 promptly and completely replaced. A 

 few notes from my observations of the bird 

 as found here and I will close. The male 

 bird is seldom seen near the nest except 

 when it is building, or after the young are 

 hatched, but he can usually be heard some 

 twenty-five rods away, constantly repeat- 

 ing his clear musical che-we-e-o. I have 

 seen him in the mating season, hovering 

 after the manner of the Chats, and warb- 

 ling so sweetly and continuously that the 

 song seemed more like a chorus than a 

 solo ; but this performance is rarely seen. 

 The female is usually only a little plain 

 "Yellow Bird," with the bright yellow face 

 contrasting sharply with the greenish yel- 

 low of the back, but I have occasionally 

 seen females with the black hood distinctly 

 developed. I especially remembered one 

 that I captured, with its nest and 

 eggs, and which I really supposed to be a 

 male till I had dissected it, the hood being 

 as perfect as in the average male. 



The bird may usually be heard by the 

 first week of May (2d my earliest record.) 

 in their usual haunts from some dense 

 thicket, and the female arrives I think a few 



days later though she is so quiet and in- 

 conspicuous that she might be there and yet 

 unobserved. Some of the birds tarry till 

 September. Despite the assertions of sev- 

 eral writers of note to the contrary. I 

 pronounce the species a very common one 

 here, in evidence of which I found in the 

 season of 1880, eleven nests, with four 

 eggs each in every instance but one, which 

 had a Cow Birds and three Hooded Warb- 

 lers. I believe that when the bird and its 

 habits become better known its breeding 

 range will be found to be more extensive in 

 Connecticut, than the little town of Say- 

 brook, if not it would seem a very remark- 

 able circumstance. J. N. Clark. 



Horned Lark. 



NESTING HABITS IN ORLEANS CO., N. Y. 



The Eremophila alpestris is quite com- 

 mon in this part of the state and is gener- 

 ally seen on some sandy knoll or by the 

 roadside dusting themselves. During 

 the past few years I have spent considera- 

 ble time in trying to find their nests, but 

 with little success until tlie past season, 

 when quite luiexpectedly on April 17, 1880, 

 when crossing an old pasture lot I acci- 

 dentally found a nest, and while approach- 

 ing it the old bird (juietly left it appearing 

 quite unconcerned whether I took the four 

 nearly fledged young that it contained, or 

 not. The nest was placed in a cup-shaped 

 cavitj lined with June grass. As the day 

 was cold and windy the young did not at- 

 tempt to leave the nest, but huddled to- 

 gether and tried to hide themselves under 

 one another and when I touched them they 

 only squatted the closer. The Horned 

 Lark must be a very hardy bird for this 

 nest had weathered very cold storms in 

 safety. About this time I found a crows 

 nest with two eggs which were frozen. 

 April 19th, visited the Horned Larks nest, 

 when the young ones immediately scramb- 

 led out of it and made off in a way that 

 was comical to behold, they were not old 

 enough to fly but by using legs and wings 

 they tumbled off in a lively manner. 



