THE NIDIQLOGIST. 



95 



Anna's, taken by Mr. Painton, being wholly of 

 horse-hair. A double nest of Allen's is shown, 

 taken by Mr. Cohen. Interesting is a set of five 

 of the rare Dotted Canyon Wren, collected near 

 Berryessa by R. H. Beck. Albinoes of Western 

 Robin, Anna's Hummer and Gambel's Sparrow 

 attract attention, while in Mr. Morcom's cases are 

 a hybrid Pintail and Mallard and an ablino Teal. 

 Mr. Emerson's nest and eggs of Cactus Wren and 

 nest of Rock Wren, from the Farallones, showing- 

 ornaments (?) of large rabbit skulls and bones, are 

 noteworthy. In the exhibit are oil paintiags by 

 Mr. Emerson of Bullock's Oriales and nest, Lazuli 

 Buntings and nest, and nest and eggs of Russett- 

 backed Thrush. Oddities contributed by H. R. 

 Taylor are an abnormal nest of Bullock's Oriale, 

 showing platform of hair, and double nest of Cali- 

 fornia Bush Tit. Among the eggs there is a series 

 of 17 sets of the Desert Sparrow Hawk. 



H. R. Tayi^or. 



iCOOPER ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



Anent Frauds. 



Editor NiDiOLOGiST — 



Dear Sir: I observe with pleasure 

 that the high standard promised by the 

 first numbers of the Nidiologist is main- 

 tained through each succeeding issue, and 

 trust that it may continue as it has begun. 

 There is one point, however, upon which I 

 should like to offer a suggestion. The 

 Nidiologist is evidently destined to be 

 very valuable as a medium of exchange, 

 reaching as it does the best class of collec- 

 tors. There is, however, another class it 

 reaches that is not so desirable — I refer to 

 those so-called naturalists who make a bus- 

 iness of writing to every collector whose 

 address they can obtain, inviting an ex- 

 change of specimens, and seldom sending 

 anything in return, or if anything is sent 

 it is seldom worth the postage. They do 

 not often try the same collector twice, and 

 are ever on the look-out for new victims. 



These frauds, are as a rule, well known 

 to those who have had a few years experi- 

 ence, but the younger members of the fra- 

 ternity offer good picking, and it is these 

 that I would ask the Nidiologist to pro- 

 tect. 



Now my suggestion is this: Give these 

 parties notice that they will be published 

 as frauds if they prove themselves to be 

 such — and a late exposure of an Eastern 

 fraud convinces me that you would not hes- 

 itate to publish them if occasion required. 



I am satisfied that if this is done a few 

 times, others will take the hint, and either 

 quit the business or act fairly. 

 San Diego, Cat. A. W. Anthony, 



At the monthly meeting February 3, Mr. 

 Schneider read a paper on the Western 

 Robin. He noted the time of its arrival 

 in Santa Clara county as being the latter 

 part of October or early in November, 

 They have been noted nesting at Monterey, 

 and an instance was cited of a nest discov- 

 ced at Los Gatos, Cal., in 1893 by Mr. 

 Irantham. It was in a thick growth of 

 shrubs, and the Robin was seen on the nest, 

 but a pair of Jays drove the Robins from 

 the nest and used it for their home. 



A paper on the Varied Thrush by Mr. 

 Osgood was next read. L,ike the Western 

 Robin this bird arrives late in October, and 

 is usually found in company with the Rob- 

 ins. By the uninitiated it is taken for the 

 male Robin, because of its brighter colors, 

 while the true Robin passes as the female. 

 They are easily identified by the wing- 

 bands, a black collar crossing the breast 

 and the buffy orange of the throat, while 

 the throat of the Robin is white, streaked 

 with olivaceous. They nest in Alaska and 

 as far south as Northern Washington. The 

 nidification is similar to the Robin, but the 

 eggs are faintly spotted with brown. 



Mr. U. S. Clark read a paper on "Two- 

 storied Nests." His observations were 

 confined chiefly to the Yellow Warbler in 

 Minnesota. The nests were built to destroy 

 the ^%% of the Cowbird. An incident was 

 related of a three-storied nest found. The 

 first contained an q.%% of the Cowbird, the 

 second an &'g% of each the Yellow Warbler 

 and Cowbird, and the third story contained 

 a set of Warbler's eggs. Prothonotary 

 Warblers often build nests of this kind for 

 the same reason. Mr. Schneider mentioned 

 a nest of Anna's Hummer which had been 

 occupied for three years, the yearly repairs 

 making it of great size. 



A paper, "Nesting of I^east Tern and 

 Snowy Plover in California," by Mr. Silli- 

 man of Watson ville, was read. On June 

 27, 1893, with Mr. Brokaw he visited a 

 beach where these birds nest. Several sets 



