October, 1881.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



59 



Snow-bird 



NESTING IN NEW YORK STATE. 



On the 23d ot last April, while out hunt- 

 ing, I saw a bird with its mouth filled with 

 grass alight on an old brush pile at a short 

 distance from where I stood. I noticed it 

 was a J unco hyemalis. After flitting about 

 the brush pile for some tin)e, appearing to 

 be uneasy about my presence, it dodged in- 

 to a small hole on a hillside which was 

 nearly concealed by some large leaves over- 

 hanging it. 



The bird remained inside four or five 

 minutes when it came out very shyly, and 

 flew some eight or ten rods away, where it 

 was joined by its mate, when they both flew 

 away. In about twenty minutes they je- 

 turned, one having grass as when I first saw 

 it; the other, which carried nothing, 

 stopped at some distance from the nest. 

 After going through- about the same ma- 

 noeuvres as before, they again flew away. 



On examination I found this hole to be 

 about eight inches deep. At the mouth it 

 was about three inches in diameter, but it 

 was considerable larger at the back part. 

 In this was deposited quite a quantity of 

 dead grass. I visited the place again on 

 the 25th, and found the nest completed but 

 no eggs. From the 25th of April until the 

 ist of May I found nothing to indicate 

 that the bird had been near the nest since 

 its completion, although I visited it daily. 



May I St, it contained one egg, and four 

 on May 4th, but no other signs of the bird, 

 and the eggs were cold. On May 5th the 

 eggs were warm, but no bird to be seen. 

 On May 6th I found her on the nest, but 

 she immediately flew away. On my taking 

 the nest from the hole, she with her mate 

 made their appearance, but kept at some 

 distance away On shooting the lighter 

 colored one — which was the one that made 

 the nest — I found it to be the female. The 

 nest was composed of dead grass, which 

 became of a finer quality from without in- 

 ward, and very smoothly lined with hair. 

 The nest measured internally one and 



three-fourths inches in diameter by one and 

 one half inches in depth. 



The fresh eggs are in ground color of a 

 dirty white irregularly spotted over with two 

 shades of lavender brown. At the larger 

 end these spots become so numerous as to 

 form one complete mass or blotch In two 

 examples these spots or blotches formed a 

 complete ring about half way between the 

 apex and the greater-diameter, while in the 

 other two the entire end is covered over 

 with these blotches, with here and there an 

 irregular streak of dark brown. 



The eggs measured respectively, .75X.50, 



.76X.56, .78X.57, . Sox. 28. — J. A. Daki/i, 



Tully, N. V. 



»♦♦ — — 



Virginia Rail. — Previous to the season 

 of 1880 I supposed that the Rallus virgin- 

 anus bred in fresh marshes only, such be- 

 ing the statement made in every biography 

 I had read. On the north end of Shelter 

 Island is a small creek and at the head of 

 which is a small marsh which is everflowed 

 with salt water during easterly storms. 



On June 28th, 1880, a small boy had oc- 

 casion to cross this marsh, and on going 

 through a patch of tall coarse grass (known 

 here as thatch grass) he flushed a Rail from 

 her nest, which he left undisturbed while 

 he went for a companion with a gun, when 

 they secured the female and her nest con- 

 taining eight eggs, which were brought to 

 me with the bird. ' I at once identified it as 

 the Virginia Rail. The nest was merely a 

 heap of dead marsh grass and a few leaves, 

 all loosely put together. Incubation was 

 well advanced in seven of the eggs, while 

 one was fresh. 



Another brood nmst have been raised in 

 the same marsh this year, as a young bird 

 was caught near there- Would like to 

 know if the nesting of this Rail in salt 

 water marshes has been observed by others. 

 — M . B. Griffing, Shelter Island. 



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