THE NIDIOLOGIST 



69 



frightened that he hardly knew what to do. 

 To add to his troubles a high wind was 

 blowing. The result of all this was that 

 when he reached the eggs he broke one, in 

 packing — much to my chagrin. 



When the frightened son of Ham got his 

 number lo's firmly planted on terra firma, 

 his tongue was fairly loosed: "lyawd, boss! 

 Ef I had knowed dem birds fite dai way, i 

 never would 'er clum dat las' tree! Sho!" 

 This single measured 1.86 x 1.55. 



On June 7 I got set No. 3. It was in a 

 post oak tree, near a stream, 60 feet up; 

 composed of green moss and sticks, and 

 lined with leaves and a few feathers. The 

 two eggs were advanced in incubation. 

 Measurements: r.89 x 1.46 and 1.84 x 

 1.46. Birds very pugnacious. 



James W. Brown. 



Giddings, Texas. 



The Prothonotary Warbler. 



A COMMON BREEDER in these parts 

 is the Prothonotary or Golden Swamp 

 Warbler. The new bottom lands 

 north of this city are studded with 

 lakes and ponds, some being of consider- 

 able size, and these sites form the favorite 

 nesting places of this beautiful bird. 



Worley's Lake, a bod}' of water one mile 

 north of this city, is one of my favorite egg- 

 ing grounds. It is about one mile long 

 and from one-half to one mile wide, accord- 

 ing to the depth of the water. Between 

 this lake and the Illinois River are two other 

 lakes of about the same length but very 

 narrow, all running parallel to the river. 

 The lands between these lakes are frequent- 

 ly inundated, and the vegetation consists 

 mostly of willow, poplar and pecan trees, 

 with a carpet of moss and "buck brush." 

 The numerous dead snags and trees render 

 this place a Paradise for Sapsuckers, Wood- 

 peckers and various other birds. The hole 

 usually chosen by the Willow Warbler is 

 one which has been deserted by a Down}- 

 Woodpecker. The Chickadee's abandoned 

 hole is also not infrequently selected by our 

 pretty little friend. Upon selecting a site 

 for their future home, both birds begin at 

 once to construct the nest. This building 

 commences at this place about May 13. 

 The birds usually fill the entire hole, with 

 the exception of a few inches, with moss, 

 sticks, etc., and this makes collecting their 

 treasures compaiatively easy. The nest 



and set are usually completed by the latter 

 part of May, the complement of eggs being 

 from four to seven in number. The birds 

 sing but little during nest building, but 

 after this duty is accomplished their sharp, 

 clear note or ditty is heard from the tree- 

 tops on all sides. 



The nest is invariably placed in a stump 

 or tree which stands in or projects over 

 water, and at an elevation of from 2 to 13 

 feet above the surface of the water. The 

 eggs of the Prothonotary show considerable 

 variation both in size and markings. The 

 model set in my collection average .73 x 53 

 and are glossy-white, with a creamy tinge 

 for ground color, and are dotted, splotched 

 and spotted with brownish-red, almost ob- 

 scuring the ground color in one of the eggs. 

 This set consists of seven eggs, taken May 

 25, 1893. I found on the same day a nest 

 of eight situated not far from the set just 

 described, but unfortunately one of the eggs 

 was a " runt," being considerably smaller 

 than the rest, and the shell was also quite 

 thin, as I found out to my displeasure after 

 it had broken in my hands while blowing. 



" Collector." 



Pekin. 111. 



Cooper Ornithological Club. 



JANUARY 5, 1895, the monthly meeting 

 of the club was held at San Jose. A 

 new constitution was presented and 

 adopted. It was decided to have 100 

 copies of same printed, the pamphlet also 

 to include the names of the officers for 1895 

 and a list of club members and their 

 addresses. Printed copies will shortly be 

 mailed to members. Messrs. H. B. Kaeding, 

 of Dry town, Amador Co., and H. Ward 

 Carriger, of Sonoma, were elected to mem- 

 bership. The election of officers for 1895 

 resulted as follows: president, H. R.Taylor; 

 vice-president, R. H. Beck; secretary, C. 

 Barlow, and treasurer, H. R. Painton. 



A paper by John W. Mailliard of San 

 Francisco gave an interesting experience 

 with a colony of White -throated Swifts, 

 {Microp2is melanoletiais). In March 1894, 

 a colony of these birds was found inhabit- 

 ing the cliffs of a quarry in San Benito 

 county, attention being first called to them 

 by a pair circling high in air, tittering " a 

 sweet and soft and most plaintive twitter- 

 ing." "As the sun sank lower toward the 



