10 



I'HE OOLOGISJ' 



•brought out the bird which proved to 

 be as I had supposed, a Cassin's Purple 

 Finch. But with the nest located and 

 species determined, my troubles had 

 just begun. 



The tree stood in the front yard right 

 in front of the veranda and not twen- 

 ty (20) feet from the side walk, where 

 people were constantly passing. 



The people of the house were, to put 

 it mildly, not in sympathy with the egg 

 collector, so I knew that the only way 

 to get the set was by stealth. 



I decided that nothing was to be 

 gained by delay and detei'mined to be- 

 gin operations that very night. Short- 

 ly after dark I walked around by the 

 house, accompanied by the friend who 

 had showed me the nest, and waited for 

 a favorable opportunity. It was a long 

 time coming. The family were all on 

 the front veranda and of course it wa^ 

 impossible to do anything till they went 

 inside. After waiting till about 10:30 

 they finally retired and left the coast 

 ■clear. After one or two attempts that 

 were interupted by pedestrians, I suc- 

 ceeded in shinning up the tree and par- 

 tially hiding myself among the sprouts. 

 Now if any one imagines that it is an 

 easy task to hang on to a slippery tree 

 trunk, on a pitch datk night and ex- 

 plore, through a veritable thicket for a 

 little nest, the exact location of which 

 is unknown, let him try it and be con- 

 vinced of his error. 



After hanging there for what seemed 

 to be an hour and my entire stock of 

 "cunjur words" had been exhausted, I 

 was so fortunate as to get my hand on 

 the nest. Without stopping to count or 

 examine the eggs I stowed th<iii away 

 in various corners of my m nh, after 

 the manner of the school boj and put- 

 ting the nest under my hat 1 slid cauti- 

 ously to the ground. The eggs were 

 transfered to my collecting box and, 

 wrapping the nest in a piece of paper, I 

 started home. 



Upon unpacking next morning they 



proved to be live (5) in number, of a 

 light green-ground color, very sparsely 

 dotted, chiefly around the larger end, 

 fine slate colored and black dots. They 

 were so badly incubated that in spite of 

 my best efforts two were broken in 

 blowing. The three remaining ones 

 measured .80 x .02, .78 x .60 and .78 x 

 .58 in. 



The nest was composed of rootlets, 

 vegetable fibers, and a few shreds of 

 bark, lined with cotton wood down. It 

 resembled very much the nest of a Yel- 

 low Warbler, but was not so deep or 

 nearly so firmly felted. 



The third set is that of Lincoln's 

 SpaiTow. 



This, like the preceding one was dis- 

 covered by another. A youngster while 

 hunting stray cattle among the foot hills 

 flushed the bird from the nest, and later 

 took me to it. 



I spent the better part of two days 

 trying to identify the pai'ents, but no 

 matter how stealthily I approached the 

 nest or how cautiously I followed the 

 bird, it always kept just out of sight, 

 only showing itself for a moment, as it 

 ran or fluttered from place to place, al- 

 ways keeping hid in the grass or behind 

 a stone. 



At last completely baffled and fearful 

 lest such constant pursuit would make 

 the birds leave the nest, I was under the 

 painful necessity of resorting to the 

 shot gun. I only do so as a last resort, 

 for it is very seldom that a little pat- 

 ience will fail to bring the bird within 

 range of the less d'^adily opera glasa, 

 but on this occasion it seemed impos- 

 sible, so a charge of number ten shot 

 was a necessity. 



Upon consulting Coues' Key the spec- 

 imen in hand proved to be a Lincoln 

 Finch. 



The nest, which was placed in a slight 

 hollow in the ground under shelter of a 

 tussock of grass, was composed of 

 coarse grass and weed stalks outside, 

 lined with soft grass and a few hairs in- 



