154 



THE OOLOGIST 



half years. This seems a great age 

 for a small bird kept in close confine- 

 ment, and I think it worthy of record. 

 The song of this gray finch is very 

 pleasing, without a single note that 

 can be called harsh. 



A young cock canary, not long 

 from the nest, was placed in a cage 

 adjoining it, and so closely copied its 

 song that at times there was difficulty 

 in distinguishing between the songs 

 of the two birds. H.B.H. 



Notes on the Olive Sided Flycatcher. 



This Flycatcher is a rare bird any- 

 where, hardly ever more than a pair 

 or more breeding in the same locality. 

 It generally breeds in southern Can- 

 ada, the New England States, and 

 farther south in the mountainous re- 

 gions. Goss in his work "The Birds 

 of Kansas,*^ gives it as a rare sum- 

 mer resident in eastern Kansas and, 

 I have found it breeding in Northwest- 

 ern Kansas. 



A pair of these birds have nested 

 for three or four years in a strip of 

 low woodlands not far from my home. 

 The nest is generally placed on a hori- 

 zontal limb about twelve to twenty- 

 five feet up, though I have seen nests 

 as high as thirty-five feet from the 

 ground. The nest is composed of 

 twigs. Mosses, strippings of grape- 

 vines, lined with oak blossoms, and 

 about the size of the bird. The eggs 

 are of a rich creamy brown spotted 

 with dark brown and lavender, chiefly 

 about the larger end. The average 

 size of the eggs taken are eighty-five 

 by sixty. W. Plank, 



Decatur, Arkansas. 



The Rose-breasted Grosbeak. 



At Bloomfield, N. J. 



During the Spring and Summer of 



1906 the Rose-breasted Grosbeak's 



were very abundant at Bloomfield, 



N, J, and they nested at a number of 



places in the vicinity and in most 

 cases succeeded in rearing their 

 broods to maturity . At no time with 

 in the past decade have they been as 

 common as they were that year. In 

 fact, during the years 1904, 1905 and 

 1909 they were conspicuous because 

 of their entire absence except during 

 the migrations. During the nesting 

 seasons of the other years they were 

 present but no nests were found with- 

 in the county limits. The bulk of the 

 birds in 1906 arrived on May 6th and 

 within a fortnight after their arrival, 

 four nests were found. One of these 

 was placed in an old pear tree close 

 by my study window and the other 

 three in a thicket just opposite from 

 my residence. At three other places 

 in this vicinity nests were found later 

 and in each case broods were success- 

 fully reared. Of the three in the 

 thicket mentioned above, two families 

 were quite successful, but the third 

 was destroyed by several small boys 

 about ten years old shortly after the 

 eggs were laid. The one close by 

 my study window was in a position 

 so that I might see it without arous- 

 ing the owners' suspicions of my pres- 

 ence and below is outlined a few of 

 the incidents which happened in the 

 home-life of these birds. 



The pair began building on the 20th 

 of May and completed a very frail and 

 loosely constructed nest of twigs and 

 grasses in four days. The set of 

 four eggs were completed on the 30th. 

 The eggs were quite uniform in color 

 and measured .75 x 1.01; .76 x .99; .72 

 X 1.00 and .74 x .99. They were of a 

 pale green and were spotted and 

 blotched with reddish-brown and pur- 

 ple. The female did all of the incu- 

 bating, excepting on the fourth and 

 seventh days when the male was on 

 the nest the greater part of each day. 

 The male while on the nest sang oc- 

 casionally as if trying to persuade his 



