THE OOLOGIST 9^0^^^ ^^\ 



107 



male was not present, and the female 

 quietly flushed from a nest of five 

 fresh eggs. The nest was placed well 

 out on a horizontal limb twenty feet 

 from the ground. 



On my latest collecting trip July 16, 

 which was a warm bright day, I 

 drove round a loop known as the 

 Evernian loop road. 



The first Scissor-tail nest which 

 came under notice was in a tree of 

 Paradise growing beside a farm house, 

 which contained four young about half 

 grown. The nest was about six 

 inches broad, and only one half inch 

 deep. It had a rather antique look 

 which I suppose accounted for its flat 

 condition. 



The next nest was about five miles 

 South of town in a mesquite and con- 

 tained four fresh eggs, and was only 

 four feet from the ground. Several 

 nests were found, one being twenty 

 feet from the ground in an elm tree 

 in a small grove and contained four 

 slightly incubated eggs. 



The eggs are white with markings 

 ranging from purplish red specks to 

 chocolate red blotches. 



About the middle of August the 

 Scissor-tails begin to congregate on the 

 prairies, small flocks combining into 

 large ones, and by the last of Septem- 

 ber, but few are to be seen. 



JOHN B. LITSEY, JR. 



Ft. Worth, Tex. 



Mrs. Ella A. Wiswall, of Madison, 

 Wisconsin, writes: 



"There is much interest here in the 

 study of bird life. Every Spring dur- 

 ing April and May, a University Pro- 

 fessor conducts two weekly classes 

 for the study and observation of the 

 birds. Starting every Saturday at 

 5:30 a. m. with a class of children, he 

 conducts them through the woods, 

 meadows, fields and localities best 

 adapted to study until eight o'clock. 

 The rest of the week they take trips 

 without him. Then on Sunday at 5:00 

 o'clock a. m. he starts with a class of 



adults, young and old, some gray hair- 

 ed people like myself, and we take 

 suitable trips for profit until eight 

 o'clock. The class usually numbers 

 from 65 to 80 individuals." 



« ♦ . 



We doubt if the oldest reader ever 

 saw a better issue of THE OOLOGIST 

 than this one. With the large variety 

 of material offered, we think there 

 are none of our readers but that 

 should find something especially in- 

 teresting relating to their particular 

 branch of bird study. We have not 

 given up our hobby of devoting sep- 

 arate issues of THE OOLOGIST to 

 separate bird families, but the printer 

 eats up copy so rapidly that we are 

 unable to accumulate enough to get 

 out a credible issue devoted to each 

 family each month, much as we would 

 like to do so. No one can help us in 

 this except our contributors, and the 

 only way they can do so is by sup- 

 plying the oflfice with a sufficient vol- 

 ume of contributions that we may 

 sort it over and publish it in this man- 

 ner. By so doing they will not 

 only assist THE OOLOGIST, but they 

 will materially benefit themselves, 

 for it is our notion that a bound file 

 of THE OOLOGIST would be more 

 valuable if arranged in this way. 



Chipping Sparrow Nesting Upon The 

 Ground In Green County, Pa. 

 On the morning of May lb\ 1903 

 while walking through a pasture field, 

 I flushed a Chipping Sparrow from a 

 nest containing three fresh eggs. The 

 nest was built in a slight depression 

 beside a bunch of grass close to the 

 top of a small hillside near the corner 

 of a pasture field and close to a public 

 road. It was composed of weeds, 

 rootlets, dry grass and hair, and was 

 lined with horse hairs. I have found 

 a number of nests of the Chipping 

 Sparrow, but never another upon the 

 ground. 



S. S. DICKEY, 

 Waynesburg, Pa. 



