THE OOLOGIST 



139 



flight and hard to tell what kind it 

 was. While looking in under rocks at 

 the top of a large hill I stepped on a 

 large rattlesnake and tumbled back- 

 ward down the hill but I had one 

 friend and it was a tree which caught 

 me before I came to the thirty foot 

 bank, so I was safe, and grabbing a 

 dead limb and some rocks, I succeed- 

 ed in killing my enemy which was 

 five feet long and had four young rab- 

 bits in him. That evening we collec-- 

 ed a set of four cardinal and on April 

 12th we found 2 sets of Turkey Vul- 

 ture, one set of Black Vulture, Field 

 Sparrow 1-5, Field Sparrow 2-4, Field 

 Sparrow 3-5 and Field Sparrow 4-4. 

 We caught two nice cat fish and killed 

 what rabbits we needed to eat. 



April 13th we found Cardinal 2-4, 

 Field Sparrow 5-5, killed a pair of Barn 

 Owls and one Texas Barred Owl. 



April 14th, we went back to the 

 Fort finding 3-4 Cardinal, 6-4 Field 

 Sparrow and 1-4 Texas Bewicks Wren 

 and a fresh nest of Red-eyed Vireo. 

 Also shot a poor-will, which are rare 

 around here. We arrived home all O. 

 K. and we expect to go again soon, 

 but I guess I will go by myself as Mr. 

 Trice is patrolling the border with 

 the National Guards. 



Hope all collectors good luck this 

 season. 



R. Graham. 

 Fort Worth, Tex. 



Nesting of the Bartramian Sandpiper 

 At New Market, Va. 



This spring while on a hike with 

 the corps of cadets of the Virginia Mil- 

 itary Institute, I had the pleasure of 

 observing the breeding of this rapidly 

 decreasing bird, the Bartramian Sand- 

 piper or Upland Plover. 



In the early morning of May 14th, 

 while walking through a large mea- 

 dow bordering the Shenandoah River, 

 I heard the musical note of this bird. 



After looking around I discovered the 

 bird flying low over the field. This 

 suggested to me that there was a pos- 

 sibility of a nest somewhere in the 

 field. 



I searched up and down the meadow 

 for a long time without success and 

 was about to give up when a Bartram 

 flew up about 20 feet in front of me. 

 This encouraged me to look longer 

 and I soon made out the four eggs 

 neatly lying in a slight hollow in the 

 bare ground, with a few pieces of 

 dead grass under them. They sure 

 were a sight for bad eyes. After care- 

 fully locating the nest I withdrew and 

 watched for the female to return. 



I had a long wait, but finally she 

 flew into the field. She could not see 

 me as I was behind a pile of fence- 

 rails. She flew in wide circles over 

 the field, but each one was a bit clos- 

 er to the nest. Till finally she lit 

 near it. I waited till she had plenty 

 of chance to settle, then walked care- 

 fully up towards the nest and was al- 

 most within two feet of it before she 

 left, fluttering off somewhat in the 

 manner of a meadow-lark. As she flut- 

 tered she gave vent to plaintive cries 

 of distress. The male did not appear. 

 I packed the eggs carefully and was 

 continuing my way out of the field 

 when much to my surprise a second 

 Bartram flew up and fluttered through 

 the grass at my feet. I soon discov- 

 ered the second nest containing four 

 pipped eggs. The female flew around 

 me scolding in her musical cry. As 

 the eggs were too far incubated to 

 preserve, I did not disturb them. And 

 after watching the actions of the fe- 

 male for a while I left the field. 



I have always imagined from arti- 

 cles read concerning the nesting 

 habits of this bird, that their nest was 

 most difficult to locate. I had to 

 hunt fairly hard for the first but did 

 not have so much trouble to locate it 



