io6 



THE NIDIOLOGIST. 



had walked along the Canadian Pacific 

 railway track through the Rockies, and 

 had covered nine hundred miles of his 

 journey ; but a few days after leaving 

 Crane Lake and tramping eastward he was 

 robbed and murdered, and two weeks ago 

 his two murderers were sentenced to death 

 at Greenfield, in Manitoba. 



June 3. One of the cowboys drove me 

 to Skull Creek, some miles south of Crane 

 Lake towards the Cypress Hills, We saw 

 a Bald Eagle perched on a stump near the 

 lake; it took flight when we pulled up to 

 have a look at him. Skull Creek is wooded, 

 and some of the trees are of considerable 

 size. In one of the highest trees was a 

 huge nest, so we drove up to it. A Ferru- 

 ginous Rough-legged Buzzard left the nest, 

 perched on another tree some distance off, 

 and I was soon up the tree and gazing on 

 its four large eggs. Two of the eggs are 

 heavily spotted, but one was quite white. 

 The eggs of this bird are easily disting- 

 uished from those of the Western Red-tail 

 by their larger size, averaging 2.50x1.95. 

 This bird usually lays four eggs, but I have 

 a set of five that were collected north of 

 Indian Head. 



This is a richly marked set, the eggs 

 being heavily blotched with umber brown 

 and shell markings of lilac. They measure 

 2.56x2.00, 2.53x1.90, 2.50x1.98, 2.50x1.96, 

 2.50x1.90. 



After I had photographed this nest of the 

 P^erruginous Rough-leg, which was a large 

 structure of sticks three feet in diameter 

 and built near the tree-top, 30 feet from the 

 ground, I told the cowboy he had better 

 drive back to Crane Lake, as I wished to 

 spend the day in the bluffs, so he drove 

 away and left me alone in my glory. 

 — ♦•< 



Harry R. Painton of College Park, Cal., writes: 

 I visited four Eagles' nests to-day, but all were 

 empty. About five feet up on one tree was a tag 

 with the following inscription : 



Mar. 16. To members of the Cooper Ornith. 

 Club. Dear Sirs: — 



If you are here to rob this nest please leave one 

 for a nest egg. 



Yours sorrowfully, 



Mrs. Aquila Chrysaetos. 



THE MAGNOLIA WARBLER. 



It would appear from the first paragraph 

 of Mr. Hoag's article on the Magnolia 

 Warbler (^Dendroica tnaculosa) that its breed- 

 ing in this section of the country is of rare 

 occurrence, and it may be of interest to the 

 readers of the Nidiologist to know of 

 the finding of three nests of this species at 

 this place, which is in about the same lati- 

 tude as Stephentown. 



The first nest was taken June 6, 1891, 

 and contained four fresh eggs. It was sit- 

 uated in the top of a hemlock sapling, 

 among a clump of young hemlocks on the 

 edge of a piece of woods on a hillside. The 

 nest was eight feet from the ground and 

 composed of fine hemlock twigs and a little 

 bunch of wool, lined with fine black roots 

 and a few long horse hairs. The four eggs 

 measured .66X.49, .63X.48, .65X.49, .63X.48. 



The second nest was found June 6, 1892, 

 and contained one o:^^ of the Warbler and 

 one of the Cowbird. This nest was similar 

 in construction to the first, but was situ- 

 ated near the extremity of a bough of a 

 large hemlock, about five feet from the 

 ground. I afterwards visited this nest but 

 it was deserted. 



The third nest was taken June 6, 1892, 

 and contained four fresh eggs which mea- 

 sured .69X.53, .67X.51, .72X.54, .68X.53. 

 This nest was in a similar situation to the 

 first, about four feet from the ground, and 

 in construction almost exactly alike, even 

 to the little bunch of wool. 



The eggs are beautiful specimens, all re- 

 sembling each other in color and markings, 

 to which Mr. Hoag's description would 

 apply. H. C. HiGGiNS. 



Cincinnaius, N. V. 



Prizes in the subscription contest are awarded as. 

 follows : 1st — Walter Raine ; 2nd — W. E. Loucks; 

 3rd— Walton Mitchell ; 4th— Percy G. Bourne ; 

 5th— C. Barlow. 



The Nidiologist is undoubtedly one of the 

 most interesting publications of its kind. Its 

 illustrations alone are worth the price of a year's, 

 subscription, one dollar. — T/ie Naturalist. 



