80 



THE OODOGIST 



down from the surface in sandy soil, 

 composed of a few straws at the en- 

 larged end, and sloping upward. Open- 

 ing 4x3 inches. Birds seen; eggs 

 dirty but fresh." 



Then we start home. Across the 

 fields we travel when suddenly from 

 under foot flutters a mass of feathers. 

 Finally it rises awing and floats away. 

 A Meadow Lark! Looking down we 

 see a tuft of grass with a small open- 

 ing in the side. Peering in, five fresh 

 eggs are disclosed and transferred, 

 cotton-wrapped, to our collecting box. 

 Then we sit down beside the nest and 

 enter in our note-book: 



"501a-5. Nest on the ground in a 

 pasture, partially sunk into the 

 ground, in the middle of a tuft of last 

 year's grass arched over and lined 

 with finer grasses. Eggs fresh. Fe- 

 male flushed from nest. Nest saved." 



Nest saved! Yes. But how? As 

 we are not far from our own home we 

 go there, get another spade and a 

 small box 8 x 10 inches and three 

 inches deep. We carefully cut the sod 

 around the nest and under it to the 

 same size and depth as the box, being 

 careful at all times not to in the least 

 disturb the nest or grasses about it, 

 and slip the spade under it, setting the 

 sod with the nest into the box. All 

 the time we are handling the whole 

 affair most delicately, else we ruin 

 it. And if properly and carefully done, 

 we have preserved one of the very 

 hardest kind of specimens, — a ground 

 sunken nest amid vegetation. 



We then go home for the day with 

 four nests and four sets of eggs. 



Cardinal at Warren, Penna. 

 The Cardinal Grosbeak as a rule 

 only occurs here at intervals as a 

 straggler. While common enough in 

 the southern part of this state it is 

 only at long intervals that one is 

 seen here. 



This winter a pair have been living 

 about town. They have been here all 

 winter and are still with us. It has 

 been a severe winter too, with heavy 

 snows and many zero mornings; one 

 morning 24 degrees below. A few days 

 ago the female flew against an office 

 window and was killed but the male 

 is still here. 



R. B. Simpson. 

 Warren, Penna. 



Large Sets. 



I find that on the 9th day of April, 

 1911, my brother and I collected a set 

 of Crow eggs numbering nine. We 

 had never heard of a set of more than 

 six being collected before. 



We have in our collection three sets 

 of three Mourning Dove. We once 

 found a set of four, but they just 

 hatched, so we haven't the eggs to 

 show for that. 



A set of five Yellow-billed Cuckoo 

 has a permanent place in our collec- 

 tion, collected on the 10th day of July, 

 1911, about two weeks before we found 

 the four Dove eggs and in the same 

 nest. 



Also we have a set of five Blue Gros- 

 beak collected the sixth of June, 1911. 

 Is fives of Blue Grosbeak very un- 

 usual? 



L. B. and Logan I. Evans. 

 Wilsey, Kan. 



In our collection is a set of nine 

 eggs of the common Crow, which were 

 collected twenty miles southwest of 

 Lacon and sold to Harry R. Taylor of 

 Nidiologist fame. When he broke up 

 his collection we purchased the set 

 and they now rest in our cabinet with- 

 in twenty miles of where they were 

 laid. 



Sets of five Yellow-billed Cuckoo 

 are not very unusual. — Editor. 



Large Set Bewick's Wren. 

 Riley Halleman reports a set of 11 

 Bewick's Wren eggs taken at San 



