THE NIDIOLOGISI'. 



second had an external diameter of fourteen 

 inches, depth twelve inches, interior dia- 

 meter top of cavity five inches, bottom two 

 inches, and depth nine inches, but lined 

 with grass and feathers for two inches only, 

 the other seven inches being naked sticks. 

 The peculiarity of another was that the bird 

 in leaving • the nest went through a well- 

 built piece of. cribbing rather more than ten 

 inches deep, which stood at an angle of 

 about seventy degrees with the top of the 

 nest. The sticks forming the cribbing were 

 from six to eight inches long and straight, 

 the aperature was about four and one-half 

 inches in the clear, being rather longer one 

 way than the other. One edge of the crib- 

 bing lay solidly on the nest, the opposite 

 side being open sufficiently to admit the 

 body of the bird, giving the cribbing the 

 appearance of having at some time been 

 tipped from the perpendicular. I broke 

 sufficient of the cactus burs away to expose 

 the open side of the nest, then secreted my- 

 self to watch events. Both birds soon re- 

 turned to the nest, but becoming alarmed 

 again left apparently for good, but in the 

 course of half an hour one again came back 

 and was presently followed by the other. 

 After a general inspection of the premises 

 the female went on the nest, going in under 

 the open edge of the cribbing, but on being- 

 approached left the nest by going through 

 the cribbing as she did when first disturbed. 

 For a third time I saw her make her en- 

 trance and exit as described. The nest 

 contained three slightl}^ incubated eggs. 

 In the spring of 1887 I noted several nests 

 made almost entirely of flowering weeds. 

 This came from the nature of the vegetation 

 in the immediate vicinity of the cholla belt 

 in which the nests were placed. 



There appears to be no fixed time for the 

 opening of the nesting season, which alter- 

 nates between the latter part of February 

 and the beginning of April. 



The Right Kind. 

 " I enclose a testimonial in the shape of a dollar 

 bill. — W. E. MuLLiKEN." 



Frank H. Lattin. 



OH for ye olden days, when every egg 

 was rare and every nest a wonder! 

 How many Ornithologists and 

 Oologists are there who associate the dawn 

 of their first scientific collecting with Frank 

 H. Lattin and his Young Oologist? lyCgions 

 surely, and many who have since, as they 

 think, and perhaps rightly, risen to higher 

 places in their beloved "science." 



It is with pleasure that the writer is able 

 to present herewith, for the first time to 

 Oologists, a "half-tone" of Mr. Lattin, a 

 "farmer's boy," as he says, but one who 

 has achieved success in his chosen line out 

 of small beginnings, by Yankee persever- 

 ance and simple pluck. 



Lattin 's Young Oologist was a priceless 

 boon to the beginner in the fascinating 

 study of Oolog3% and many of his old sub- 

 .scribers who in April, 1884, received as a 

 "sample" the initial number of his little 

 journal, are readers of The Oologist of to- 

 day. 



How eagerly the young collector scanned 

 the " query column " to see the price- 

 list name of the "Hair bird," the "Thun- 

 der-pump," or the "Fly-up-the creek!" 

 Those were the days of wonderland, and 

 Lattin at Gaines, N. Y., was king, and 

 transformed for many a boy the uncouthly, 



