IHK ODLOGISI 



67 



inches in length, about twro inches wide 

 and one and three-quarters inch high. 

 The rear wall of the nest is about one 

 and three-quarters inches thick, the 

 •sides about an inch, and the roof a lit- 

 tle over half an inch in thickness. 

 These measurements vavy somewhat in 

 different specimens. The nests are all 

 constructed out of dry grasses exclus- 

 ively, and are lined with fine grass tops 

 only. Some are much more artistically 

 and compactly built than others, the 

 roof projects somewhat over the en- 

 trance in all cases." 



So far I have neglected to say much 

 about the contents of this nest. It con- 

 tained lour eggs, of a dead white 

 color. [ knew the egg.'^ must be of a 

 kind of Sparrow but what species I 

 could not positively tell. Took nest 

 and eggs and started back home but as 

 luck would have it, when I was going 

 through a strip of woods a twig turned 

 the nest over and out rolled two of my 

 beauties, one smashed up while the 

 other fell in some grass and was saved. 

 I reached home with the thi'ee others 

 which measured as follows: 77 bv 60, 

 79 by 59 and 78 by 57. Searched 

 through Davie's * "Nests and Eggs of 

 North America Birds" and came to the 

 conclusion that I had found a nest of 

 Bachman's Sparrow which he said came 

 as far north as North Cai'olina but to be 

 certain 1 sent one of the eggs to the 

 editor of Oologist, receiving a reply 

 that it was certainly this species that 

 I had foand. 



I am now going to tell as best I can, 

 what I have learned of this bird since 

 then although I have never had an op- 

 portunity of watching a pair very close- 

 ly as I have not found a nest near 

 home. Whether they remain with us 

 the whole year I am at present unable 

 to say. During the summer it seems 

 to be a common breeder in certain loc- 

 alities but they are very hard birds to 

 locate and their nests being so difficult 

 to find have not had very good luck in 



collecting their eggs Only five nests 

 have come under my observation 

 though I know «)f others having been 

 found but vvas not able to secure the 

 eggs. 



The only nest that I found myself 

 was accidentally. A friend and myself 

 were walking through a sage field 

 which was covered with old field pines 

 and when nearing the edge about ten 

 yards from a cultivated field a Bach- 

 man's Sparrow started from under my 

 feet, fluttering and tumbling along the 

 ground, as though its wing was broken, 

 uttering a slight chirping sound, seem- 

 ing all the time to be in great distress, 

 My first inclination was to give chase 

 and catch the wounded bird but I had 

 been fooled before, so we began look- 

 ing for the nest. We searched for over 

 five minutes in vain and were about 

 disgusted with her when my friend saw 

 a small hole in one side of a tussock of 

 sage, and he said to me that he thought 

 he had found her nest. 



W^e carefully pushed away the grass 

 and to our delight found that it con- 

 tained four eggs. I knew that they 

 were badly incubated but being such a 

 rare find we took them. The next day 

 when an attempt was made to blow our 

 eggs, our delight was turned to disgust 

 when the drill smashed through the 

 shell of the first, as though it were tis- 

 sue paper. Though we felt pretty bad 

 about not being able to save the eggs 

 and also to have deprived the mother 

 of the four little chicks which she would 

 have inevitably had the next day. It 

 was a good find anyhow for the nest 

 was roofed over more than any I have 

 ever seen; the eggs not being visible 

 until we had partly removed the roof. 

 A large amount of coarse grass was 

 used in the construction of the nest, 

 being lined with fine wiry grass. The 

 entrance was not over half an inch from 

 the ground. The date of the finding of 

 this nest was May 12, 1894. 

 Later in the summer along about the 



