June, 1884.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



69 



cock with a fresh clutch of eggs and on 

 one hovering newly hatched young. This 

 spring he pointed two nesting females, 

 one on a badly incubated set as early as 

 April 7th. Still, the notion of ' no scent ' 

 may be truer of Grouse and Quail than of 

 Snipe. An old darkey, who had once 

 catered to delicate palates in Dixie, or who 

 had read the 0. and 0. article on egg gas- 

 tronomy, brought me May 8th, a basket 

 of eggs of Buffed Grouse, saying he could 

 swear they were fresh, because they were 

 but eleven eggs the day before and twelve 

 the day he brought them. I told him it 

 was $50 fine for every Partridge's egg- 

 taken or destroyed, and if he didn't put 

 the eggs back at once, I'd prosecute hirn. 

 Badly scared, he swore he would have the 

 eggs back in the nest in twenty minutes, 

 and I trust the clutch was not forsaken. 

 Collecting Hawks' egg's May 9th and May 

 11th, I flushed Buffed Grouse from clutch- 

 es of fifteen and sixteen eggs, which indi- 

 cates continued abundance of this favorite 

 game bird. A cold storm late in May, 

 though, is often very destructive to the 

 young Grouse. It is queer how very diffi- 

 cult it is to find a Quail in March or 

 April, but as soon as the farmer begins to 

 plant his corn they seem to spring up in 

 every field in pairs, trios and bunches, 

 and at every half-mile on the country 

 turn-pike can be heard an old whistling cock. 

 As I close these notes on the 15th of 

 May, a Cooper's Hawk made a bold dash 

 into our garden in the heart of the city to 

 the consternation of the Sparrows. Indi- 

 goes, Chats and Grosbeaks were noted to- 

 day. Other observers will doubtless 

 agree that the bulk of arrivals was in the 

 first half of May. From our wild orches- 

 tra no instrument is now missing but the 

 tomtom of the Cuckoo ; and whatever 

 doubt there may be about first position, 

 there can be no question- as to the right 

 of Master Cuculus to the extreme rear of 

 the army of migration. — J. M. W., Nor- 

 wich, Conn. 



The Oregon Jay. 

 (Perisoreus obscurus.) 



On May 4th, I noticed an Oregon Jay 

 building. When discovered, it was cling- 

 ing to the trunk of a tree like a Wood- 

 pecker, pulling out bunches of moss and 

 dropping them. After dropping several 

 he seemed to find one that suited and flew 

 off with it. I watched and saw him dis 

 appear in a tree at a little distance. I 

 could see nothing of the nest, but as both 

 birds were flying in and out with sticks, 

 moss, etc., I was sure there was one being- 

 built there. 



I visited the locality on the 16th, and 

 on the 21st, this time climbing up to the 

 nest. I found it completed, but no eggs, 

 and I saw nothing of the birds. 



On the 31st, I again climbed up, and 

 was rewarded by finding five eggs ; incu- 

 bation just begun. The bird sat on the 

 nest until I almost had my hand on her, 

 then flew off with a low whistle and dis- 

 appeared, but returned in a few minutes 

 and began flying around, uttering low, 

 worried whistles. I promptly shot her. 



The male did not put in an appearance. 

 The nest was in a fir, about eighty-five 

 feet from the ground and about ten feet 

 from the top of the tree. It was built 

 close against the trunk and was composed 

 of sticks, twigs and moss, rather loosely 

 put together, and lined with cow hair, a 

 few bunches of wool and one or two 

 feathers of Bonasa IT. sabinei. It meas- 

 ured : Inside diameter, 3^ inches ; depth, 

 2£ inches; outside diameter, 7f inches; 

 depth, 5 inches. 



The eggs were five in number, very 

 light blue with a very slight greenish 

 wash. They were thickly covered with 

 spots of two shades of brown, one dark 

 and the other very light, collected mostly 

 on the larger end, and in one specimen a 

 few black hair-like lines over the large end. 

 They measured 1.15 X-SO ; 1.15 X-82 ; 1.10 

 X-82; 1.15 X. 85; 1.12 X. 80.— A. W. A., 

 Beaverton, Oregon. 



