88 



THE OOLOGIST 



March 22, 1913, I stopped to look at 

 a last year's Brown-headed Nuthatch 

 cavity which I had had the misfortune 

 to cause the birds to desert on March 

 9th of the previous year, and which 

 on April 13th had contained five Blue- 

 bird eggs. I found a Chickadee had 

 taken possession and deepened the 

 cavity. Tearing off the side of the 

 cavity I counted seven well-marked 

 eggs. The nesting material was com- 

 posed principally of cow and horse 

 hair, and contained downy hen feath- 

 ers, pieces of leaves, plant fibre, fine 

 grasses, cedar bark, tiny chips from 

 the work of the Chickadees, small 

 pieces of cotton and a few tiny green 

 lichens. 



Nearly every one of the Chickadee 

 nests are found in fence posts along 

 the edges of country roads skirting 

 timber, and not far from farm houses. 



Both parents appear to set on the 

 eggs, which usually hatch in eleven or 

 twelve days. The young stay in the 

 nest about two weeks, always hungry 

 and keep the parents hopping to se- 

 cure food for them. 



Three appears to be as common a 

 number of eggs in a set as any; the 

 set of seven mentioned above is the 

 largest set I have ever found. The set 

 of four eggs collected March 30, 1912, 

 measures: .59x45, .59 x .46, .59 x .46, 

 and .59 x .45 inches. The set collected 

 March 22, 1912, was fresh and meas- 

 ures .55 x .46, .57 x .45, .59 x .45, .59 x 

 .44, .57x.46, .59x.45, and .57 x .46 

 inches. The runt egg mentioned above 

 as collected on April 15, 1911, is of 

 normal shape, had perfect markings 

 and looked like a minature of the aver- 

 age Chickadee egg, for in size it meas- 

 ured .30 x .26 inches, by far the small- 

 est egg of any kind that I have ever 

 seen. 



Pinlay Simmons. 

 Houston, Texas. 



The Gold Finch. 



On July 24, 1913, I found the nest of 

 a Gold Finch, containing five eggs and 

 one Cowbird's egg. Was somewhat 

 surprised on noticing the Cowbird's 

 egg. Thinking this rather uncommon, 

 I took the eggs, and nest because it 

 is the first time, that I ever saw this 

 species containing the egg of the 

 Cowbird. The set was fresh, and easy 

 to blow. 



On July 13, 1913, I took nest and 

 eggs — a set of four — with one Cow- 

 bird's egg. 



Red Backed Sandpiper Eggs. 



Dear Mr. Barnes: 



Attention "Ye Editor." 



Mr. Reinecke of Buffalo, New York, 

 recites his interesting record as to 

 the occurrence in his community of 

 the Red-backed Sandpiper. Mr. Rein- 

 ecke even goes so for as to conclude 

 his remarks by stating eggs of this 

 bird are, to the best of his knowledge, 

 unknown in collections. This might 

 be an appropriate time for me to re- 

 fer to my series of Shore Birds' eggs 

 and supply a little data as to the 

 breeding of the American Dunlin. 



Probably the most interesting of 

 my four sets of Red-backed Sandpiper, 

 is a set of three taken, together with 

 the parent, at Green Bay, Wisconsin. 

 This capture was made by Mr. A. J. 

 Schonnebeck, one of the pioneer Orni- 

 thologists of Wisconsin, and an Hon- 

 orary member of the Milwaukee Aca- 

 demy of Sciences. 



I know of no other record for the 

 United States. Another clutch is the 

 take of Mr. Wm. E. Snyder of Beaver 

 Dam, Wisconsin, who was with the 

 Philadelphia Academy of Sciences' ex- 

 pedition collecting at Point Barrow, 

 Alaska, in 1898. The other two sets 

 are from Franklin Bay and identified 

 as well founded in every instance. 



I might add that Mr. Joseph Grin- 



