300 



THE OOLOGIST 



May 30, the nest held but a single egg. 

 Five days later we returned and 

 flushed the female bird from the nest 

 of four eggs. This nest was not so 

 well concealed as nest number one; 

 it was built in a depression beside a 

 tuft of grass and was near several wet 

 places. The nest was, as in the first 

 case, composed of soft grass blades. 



The finding of this second nest 

 caused me to search for another pair 

 of birds. On June 4, I returned to 

 field number one. Farther down this 

 field I found another pair of Sparrows. 

 They frequented the very center of 

 a small swamp that contained many 

 large tufts of swamp grass. With a 

 switch I carefully worked over the 

 whole area. Finally I flushed the 

 Sparrow from her nest and found that 

 it held four quite young birds. The 

 nest was built in the center of a large 

 clump of grass which grew beside 

 several wet places. The construction 

 of this nest resembled that of the 

 others. 



The two sets of eggs were very 

 much alike in ground color which is 

 a faint greenish-white. The flrst set 

 was more heavily marked in the form 

 of wreaths about the larger ends of 

 the specimens. The set of four con- 

 tained the markings on all parts of 

 the shell. These eggs remind me of 

 large specimens from the field Spar- 

 rows. 



To my knowledge these are the only 

 records of the Henslow's Sparrow 

 nesting in Pennsylvania. 



S. S. Dickey. 

 Waynesburg, Pa. 



Notes. 



We have recently come into posses- 

 sion of the larger portion of a collec- 

 tion of eggs made by Lieutenant F. B. 

 Eastman of the U. S. Army at differ- 

 ent places where he has been station- 

 ed, and have just settled up with him. 



It is a pleasure to quote, for the bene- 

 fit of our readers, a clause in the let- 

 ter which we sent him at the time of 

 tne final settlement which is as fol- 

 lows: 



"I have at last got your specimens 

 unpacked and proved up with data, 

 and I want to say to you that they 

 are the most satisfactory lot of speci- 

 mens as a lot that I have received in 

 many a long day.'" 



Among the rarities included in this 

 collection, is a full series of beautiful 

 sets of the Semi-palmated Sandpiper, 

 and many others equally as rare, 

 though none showing a more beautiful 

 variation in series. 



* * * 



We notice by the Associated Press 

 dispatches that Dr. Ora W. Knight of 

 Bangor, Maine, has recently bequeath- 

 ed to the United States National 

 Museum (Smithsonian) his entire col- 

 lection of Ornithological, Oological, 

 and Entomological specimens. Some 

 time ago the Doctor sent us a list of 

 the eggs contained in this collection 

 which at the time impressed us as be- 

 ing one of rare value. 



* * * 



Finlay Simmons of Houston, Texas, 

 has contracted with the Houston Post, 

 a leading daily of that city, to supply 

 them a weekly article on the subject 

 of birds of that locality, and it is a 

 pleasure to note the success he is hav- 

 ing along these lines. The articles 

 first appear in the Sunday Post and 

 later in the Farm and Fireside, reach- 

 ing approximately 80,000 readers ulti- 

 mately. 



A vast amount of good can be done 

 by work of this kind, and we should 

 be glad to see it taken up by other 

 competent ornithologists in different 

 parts of the country. 



