rHE OOLOGIST 



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197 



burrow a couple of youag birds which 

 were almost ready to leave the nest. 

 The bank in which they had been 

 hatched looked out over Lake Ontario, 

 and as they were easily tired in their 

 first attempt to fly, they soon dropped 

 into the water. Instinctively they 

 turned right about face, and u=ing 

 their wings as paddles soon made back 

 to land where their wants were soon 

 attended to by the parent birds and 

 the warm rays of "old Sol." 



R. W. Johnson, 

 Port Hope, Ont. 



Clay-colored Sparrow in Southern 

 Minnesota. 



I read with interest an article from 

 the pen of Mr. P. B. Peabody, treating 

 on the nest and nesting habits of the 

 Clay-colored Sparrow, in a recent Oolo- 



GIST. 



Mr. Peabody's statement is true when 

 he says, "Nevertheless the Clay colored 

 Sparrow does nest in Central Minne- 

 sota, at least as far south as Minneapo- 

 lis." 



At my home, here in the northern 

 part of Steele county, state of Minne- 

 sota, not farther than fifty miles from 

 the Iowa state line I find this Sparrow 

 breeding. 



In the spring migration of 1899 I no- 

 ticed the Clay-colored Sparrow as com- 

 mon and some could be seen all through 

 the months of May and June, also lat- 

 er, in the vicinity of brush and scatter- 

 ing trees. The last week in May and 

 the first of June I commenced looking 

 for their nests but without success. 



On June 5ih of the present year I 

 was walking through a pastui'e right 

 at the edge of a small grove where 

 there were scattering bushes of hazel 

 brush, thoroughly mixed with dead 

 grass. I struck a suspicious looking 

 bush with my walking stick and a 

 small bird flew out which I at first took 

 to be a Chipping Sparrow, but upon 



close scrutiny I saw I was mistaken 

 and that the species was the Clay-color- 

 ed instead. If I had not struck the 

 bush I would have passed by and the 

 nest would have passed unmolested, 

 for I found out afterwards she was a 

 very close sitter, and would allow one 

 to come within a foot of the nest before 

 leaving it. Carefully parting the bush- 

 es and grass till I could look in, yes, 

 sure enough, there was the nest and 

 eggs, but hold on, what is that? The 

 villian in the siick form of the Cowbird 

 has already found this well concealed 

 nest and deposited one of those gray 

 monsters in it, which was ready to 

 crowd out or crush the rightful ones. 

 At a second glance I saw there were 

 only two eggs of the Clay colored Spar- 

 row. As I collect and have only full 

 and complete sets I determined to 

 leave it for a few days. Returning on 

 the 7th following and finding no more 

 eggs had been laid I took possession. 



The nest was situated in a small 

 growth of hazel brush where there was 

 an abundance of last year's grass, plac- 

 ed eight (8) inches fi'om the ground, be- 

 ing well concealed with overhanging 

 grass, built of tine dried grass, stems 

 and very slender weed-staiks, lined 

 with tine grass-tops with some white 

 and black horse hairs. 



The color of the eggs are light green, 

 spotted all over thinly with reddish- 

 brown and lilac, more so at the larger 

 end. Incubation was far advanced; 

 but with patience I managed to save 

 them. These are a trifle smaller than 

 a set that I have which was collected in 

 N. W. Canada. 



Edw. W. Springer, 

 Owatonna, Minn. 



The 1900 Horizon for "The Oologists 

 Association." 



Of prospects perhaps the most enjoy- 

 able to be looked forward to during the 

 forthcoming year is the proposed meet- 



