134 
composition of all nests examined dur- 
ing the past four or five years—some 
three or four hundred having come un- 
der notice. Very few nests. of the 
bird are found in a day’s search, even 
in a locality where they are breeding 
fairly common. It is a well known 
fact that a number of the birds are 
off the nests in the day time,  espe- 
cially when the eggs are fresh, and 
if you intend to find nests by flushing 
the bird you will examine but one or 
two in a day. If you happen to come 
upon some nice grassy spots or 
mounds in suitable places and search 
amongst them with your hands, you 
will meet with more success than by 
waiting for flushing birds. On July 
15th of the present year six nests of 
the W. T. Sparrow were located in 
this way, all of which contained fresh 
eggs. None of the birds were sitting. 
This, however, is a record for one day’s 
work, 
Very few Ornithologists understand 
thoroughly the nesting habits of this 
sparrow. For instance, how many 
know that the bird removes the eggs 
to another spot if once disturbed? This 
is a fact. The W. T. Sparrow is very 
shy. In about 25 cases I have return- 
ed to nests which originally contained 
one egg and have found nests turned 
up side down and eggs gone. A bird 
was flushed off a nest containing two 
eges and when the nest was visited 
but two days later, it was empty. 
Some of the nests were very well hid- 
den under old brush heaps, sunk in 
moss amongst sphagnum bushes, etc., 
and only a careful observer would 
ever locate them. In short, every nest 
which has prompted a second visit has 
been found destroyed and contents 
missing, It would certainly be very 
jnteresting to see the bird carrying off 
the eggs. 
This sparrow lays from two to five 
THE OOLOGIST A7(\\), \C 
eggs, and the markings and size vary 
greatly. The usual reddish coloration 
obtains in most cases, but a few sets 
have been taken with a deep blue un- 
derground color with purplish scrawls 
and blotches over the entire egg. 
_W. J. BROWN. 
opt gg 
Black Birds. 
A number of years ago the Black- 
birds near Washington, Pa., in this 
section gathered in large flocks, dur- 
ing the latter part of August and Sep- 
tember. There were a number of 
roosts near town and every evening 
great numbers of them, Sometimes 
thousands in a flock, could be seen fly- 
ing to these places. About six or 
seven years ago this ceased and there 
were only a few scattered individuals 
where there were hundreds before. 
What caused this, I was never to 
learn, aS they were not hunted to any 
extent, and there seemed to be no nat- 
ural reason for it. However. they re- 
turned this year and there were fully 
as many as before, all going to the old 
roosting places. Perhaps other read- 
ers of THH OOLOGIST have noticed 
the same thing and can give some ex- 
planation. 
On August 15th, 1910 I saw an AI- 
bino Blackbird. It was with a flock of 
Red-winged Blackbirds, and being the 
same size I supposed that it was the 
same species. I was within about two 
hundred feet of it and it was pure 
white, as nearly as I could make out. 
The next day I saw an English 
Sparrow in town that was about half 
white. It was in the street with a num- 
ber of others, and I got within about 
twenty-five feet of it. 
HARLE R,. FORREST. 
peel aI EEE ee sess 
A Ground Nest of the Brown Thrasher. 
In the June OOLOGIST the editor 
and publisher. recorded the unusual, 
