THE OOLOGtST. 



29 



The Blue Jay. 



As one walks along tlu-ough the 

 vv()(5ds on a suninier day, he will invar- 

 iably hear the well-known, but harsh 

 ery of the Bine Jay, this bird is very 

 abundant in almost all parts of the 

 United States; they are somewhat gre- 

 garious in their feeding, but unusually 

 solitary iu their nesting habits; the nest 

 of the Blue Jay is a very bulky affair, 

 composed of twigs .and an occasional 

 rag; they always line their nest with 

 sti-ing and line roots; they lay frcmi 

 four to six eggs of a dull green color, 

 spotted all over with blotches of olive- 

 green. The only fault I have to find 

 with this bird is its natural prospen- 

 sity for nest robbing. Most farmers 

 consider this bird as a great nuisance, 

 l)ut in my estimation this is a mistaken 

 idea, for the reason that the Blue Jiij 

 ♦lestroys innumerable insects that would 

 otherwise eat iip the crops. Tiie Blue 

 Jay is very pugnacious, often lighting 

 witli birds a great deal larger than 

 itself. The Blue Jay is often confined 

 in cages and I have heard that they can 

 be learned to talk, but I have never 

 heard one myself. I have noticed that 

 the Blue Jay, in finding material for its 

 nest, breaks dead twigs from the trees 

 instead of picking them up from the 

 ground. The majority of the Blue 

 Jays pass the winter in the same vicin" 

 ity as they do the breeding season. 

 H. E. Hershey, 

 Otoe Co., Neb. 



Harris's "Woodpecker in Nebraska. 



* Along the latter part of December, 1 

 was Avalking through a strip of timber 

 about one-half mile west of town, wlien 

 right in front of me, I heard the rap- 

 ping of some Woodpecker. I walked 

 nearer as sileatl}'- as possible, when a 

 Flicker flew up and aA\'ay. T walked 

 on more rapidly, then thinking that 

 was all tiiere was, when out jumped 



what I thought at lirst sight, Avas a 

 Downy Woodpecker. It lit on a stimip 

 ;ibout ten yards ahead of me and I 

 could see it plainly. It was much to 

 large for a Downy and I though to dark 

 for a Hairy. I watclu-d it for almost 

 an hour. It came ((uite near me sever- 

 al times, but liew away almost as soon 

 as it saw me. 



At last the mate (a male I think) 

 came up and I saw tlicin no more that 

 day. 



1 went liome not knowing- what I had 

 seen. 



The following Thursday a traveling- 

 man, who is quite a "bird crank," ca)Be 

 around and 1 to(jk iiim out. As soon 

 as he laid eyes on my bird he said, "Boy, 

 thats a Harris's Woodpecker." Weill 

 was glad to hear that, for several of, 

 our local sages (?) had declared that I 

 had only seen a Downy or perhaps a 

 Hairy Woodpecker. 



M. H. Reed, 

 Otoe Co., Neb. 



Unusual Nesting' of the Downy- 

 Woodpecker. 



As the editor of the Ooeogist asks, 

 among other things, for articles on pe- 

 culiarities of the nesting of our birds, I 

 will give an instance of unusual nesting 

 of the Downy Woodpecker. 



On April 23, I found a Yellow-shafted 

 Flicker's nest, apparently finished in a 

 rotten stub of an apple tree in an old 

 orchard. As I was ])assing the orchard 

 June 10, I went to the tree and found 

 tlie upper part of tjie stub had been 

 In-oken otf, leaving the hole open. I 

 looked inside and saw three pure white 

 fresh eggs measuring 80 x 60 lying on a 



I rather Imlky nest of grass stalks and 

 liorse hair, the latter l)eiug pretty w^ell 



i distril)uted through the grass and not 

 in any way forming a lining to the 

 nest. Tlie nest is rather shallow and 

 loosely ma.de. I took tlie eggs Kud 

 nest, and the birds immediately n^ade 

 another nest, and laid more eggs^ which 



