66 



ORNITHOr.OGrST 



[Vol. 6-No. 9. 



about the color of those of the Summer Red 

 Bird, sprinkled sp:iringly on the clieeks and 

 throat, and extending as far as the middle ot 

 the breast. These, and two in Mr. Ridg- 

 way's possession, are all I evc-r^aw or he;ird 

 of that were so strongly m iiked — Fred. T. 

 /encks, ProvidencCy R I 



Notes from Maryland. 



Rough-winged Swallows are quite 

 common in this county building their nests 

 in the masonry of bridges and mills over 

 water courses. 1 heir nests are especially 

 common along the Antieuim Cr. ek. I'hey 

 generally breed in single pairs or at most 

 not more than three or four pairs .it one 

 bridge or other locality. 



A Snowy Owl was br..uglit to me, J<inii- 

 ary ist, i88i, alive, but it died from unknown 

 causes a few minutes after I got it. It had 

 been shot in the wing about three weeks be- 

 fore, at a point nine miles west of Hagers- 

 town. It was a male and was nearly white. 

 This is the fourth or fifth specimen killed in 

 this county during the past five years. 



'J'he Tufted Titmouse is a common 

 resident in this locality, nesting in natu 

 ral cavities in trees, nearly always in an or 

 chard, and generally rather low down Last 

 spring a pair stayed about a l)ox in the yard 

 for a week, and seemed .almost decided to 

 build, as I hoped they would, but finally 

 left for other quarters. The usual set of 

 eggs seem to be six. The nests are loosely 

 made of hair, wool, feathers, &c. 



Ravens are occasionally shot in the wild- 

 er portions of this county and they proba- 

 bly breed along the Potomac River in the 

 slate hills region. 



PiLEATED Wood-peckers are not un 

 common in the heavy lumber lands. 



Blue Birds. — Has any one noticed a 

 scarcity of Blue Birds the past season } 

 They wintered here in larger numbers than 

 I ever knew them to do, liut began to dis- 

 appear in January and February, and I only 

 found about four nests this season Could 

 the birds have been killed by the severe 

 cold of last winter.? From one of the nests 



I got a set of white eggs. When fresh they 

 had the rosy characteristic of Wood-peck- 

 er's, hut on being blown the white assumed 

 a slight blueish tint. 



Chaparral Cock. — In the March O. 

 and O., Mr. B. W. Everman writes that he 

 never found more than two eggs in the nest 

 ot this bird, and that it would seem that two 

 egg.s is the usual clutch. I have a set of 

 four eggs, nearly fresh, from Eagle Pass, 

 Texas, and I had sent to me a set of five fresh 

 eggs from the same place, but three of them 

 were broken in the mails. — Edgar A. Small, 

 liagersfotan, Md. 



Small-billed Water Thrush. 



May 30th, 1881, while collecting in a 

 swamp on the north bank of the Seneca Riv- 

 er, Onondago County, N. Y , I found a nest 

 of the Small-billed Water Thrush {Sturus 

 nxinus), Coues, containing one egg and three 

 young birds. I was ab'»ut a hundred yards 

 from the edge of the swamp and looking for 

 an old hawk's nest, when the bird flew out 

 from under the roots of a tree near by. Af- 

 ter a careful search I found the nest un- 

 der a projecting root and so well concealed 

 by overhanging rootlets that it could not be 

 seen until the eye was nearly on a level with 

 it. It nearly filled the cavity and was made 

 chiefly of moss and leaves lined with fine 

 rootlets Inside, the dimensions were about 

 two and a half inches across by two deep. 

 The outside measurement could not well be 

 taken as it was built of material very similar 

 to what surrounded it. I took the egg and 

 shot the female so that there might be no 

 mistake, but left the nest and young, hoping 

 that the male would care for them. The egg 

 was addled but contained no embryo, so I 

 succeeded in blowing it and have it now in 

 my collection. It measures .75 inch by. 56 

 inch. The ground color is white, speckled 

 sparingly at the smaller end and very thick- 

 ly on the larger with shades varying from 

 lilac to dark brown. Next spring I shall 

 make a careful search for another nest and if 

 successful will give you a more complete de- 

 scription. — M. K. Barnum, Syracuse, N. V. 



