186 



THU OOLOGIST 



I went to his farm and found the fe- 

 male bird on her nest. She was quite 

 wary, however, and hurried away as 

 I approached. The nest was simply a 

 depression beside a hill of corn. The 

 field lay on a hillside, not far above a 

 river. The farmer told me he had 

 worked all around the nest. 



In April of the following year I 

 found another nest of the Killdeer 

 holding three incubated eggs. This 

 nest was in a sandy corn field, near a 

 large creek. 



In 1913, one night about 8 o'clock 

 towards the middle of April as I was 

 tramping along a public road near 

 State College, Centre County, Pa., I 

 heard two Killdeers calling in a low 

 pasture field down by a creek. A few 

 days later I returned to this place 

 and found the pair of birds still inhab- 

 iting the wet grassy meadow. They 

 seemed nervous at my presence, but 

 although I stayed there about two 

 hours they showed no signs of having 

 a nest. In one week I returned, and 

 after a careful watching, saw one of 

 the birds go to a small "hump" of sod. 

 i ran towards this place and flushed 

 the Killdeer from her nest and three 

 eggs. She made a great demonstra- 

 tion and spread her wings and tail 

 as if she were injured. The nest was 

 visited again later and a fourth egg 

 had been added. The nest was simply 

 a slight depression in the damp sod, 

 well lined with pieces of drift mater- 

 ial; bits of wood and grass stubble. 



May 1, I discovered a second pair of 

 killdeer in a field one mile east of the 

 College. Once I scared the bird from 

 the vicinity of her nest and she sailed 

 away to join her mate, screaming 

 shrilly all the while. I went away and 

 returned in a half hour. The bird 

 flushed near the same place in which 

 I had first seen her and lit upon a 

 knoll not far away. I searched care- 

 fully over the ground and was about 



to give up when just in front of me, 

 I spied the nest and four eggs. This 

 nest was just a depression beside a 

 stone and was well lined with wheat 

 stubble. The birds pretended lame- 

 ness and uttered their notes frequent- 

 ly. 



At several other places I saw Kill- 

 deer and felt quite sure they had nests 

 nearby; but a careful searching and a 

 long wait failed to reveal them to me. 



S. S. Dickey. 

 Waynesburg, Pa. 



The Winter Wren. 



This hardy little fellow arrives early 

 in April and is met with up until Nov- 

 ember. When we have an early spring 

 I occasionally note this bird late in 

 March and during a late fall it is often 

 met with well along in November. 

 Have never seen the Wren but once in 

 winter. The winter of 1890-91 was a 

 very mild one and on January 4, 1891, 

 I saw one. 



During the migrations it can possi- 

 bly be found anywhere in the wood- 

 land but when settled for the summer 

 it is found only in the mountains. 



The Winter Wren is not uncommon 

 as a summer resident in Virginia for- 

 ests and large second growths where 

 there is plenty of hemlock, laurel and 

 mossy logs. In such places its odd 

 and rippling song entirely different 

 from any other bird's song heard in 

 this region, can be heard in the gullies 

 and along the mountain streams. This 

 little fellow is shy and secretive keep- 

 well hidden among the logs, thickets 

 and fallen tree tops. Usually allows 

 a close approach before he takes a 

 short flight to dodge into the next 

 hiding place. If one happens to sit 

 down close by he will soon appear and 

 flutter about scolding all the while, but 

 remain quiet and he will soon forget. 



Nest building begins early in May. 

 A close search of any locality inhab- 



