^22 



THE OOLOGIST. 



a large leech fastened tightly to the 

 throat. The bird was still warm and 

 as it was about 9 A. M. when we found 

 it, my surmises are that the insect 

 attached itself to the bird during the 

 night when the latter was asleep. 

 Death must have been instaneous, as 

 there was no sign of a struggle. The 

 nest contained three fresh eggs. 



Eureka, 

 Los Angeles, Cal. 



Brewer's Blackbird. 



This bird is one of the blackest I 

 know, and when resting emits a hai^sh, 

 shrill sound which is none too pleasant. 

 The bird itself is a coal-black from bill 

 to tail, and its egg is in strict keeping 

 with it. The egg has a light back- 

 ground with lightning Hashes and 

 blotches of dark l)ro\vn evenly distrib- 

 uted over its surface. The number in 

 a set ranges from four to nine, while 

 most of the sets contain five or six 

 eggs. The nests are large and com- 

 posed of different weeds, with a thick 

 lining of black horse hair, and present 

 a striking resemblance to each other- 

 They are generally placed in either 

 pine or cypress and are often found in 

 the weeping willow. Very often two 

 and three nests are found in the same 

 tree and are always faithfully guarded 

 over by their I'espective owners. 



The bird is common in this locality, 

 and a number of them are shot every 

 ye<»r for mere sport. 



Out of nine sets which I collected 

 this year I found none incubated. 

 They were all collected within a few 

 days and showed very even markings. 



The Blackbird nuikes a great noise 

 when disturbed in her nest and I have 

 known them to flap their wings in the 

 intruder's face. They stay near their 

 nest and utter sharp cries until the 

 marauder is out of sight. 



One day in the latter part of May I 

 had climljed a tall pine and was just 

 possessing myself of a nest containing 



seven large eggs, when the owner came 

 dashing by, emitting the Blackbird's 

 peculiar cry. It was so sudden a sur- 

 prise that I dropped the box containing 

 the eggs to the ground. I descended 

 hurriedly, my heart still beating loudly,, 

 and found the eggs spattered over the 

 trunk of the tree and the ground below. 

 Although it is not a common thing, 

 I have seen this saucy bird try more 

 than one cherry on our place and they 

 make an indignant i)rotest against, 

 being stopi^ed. 



Howard W. Bell, 

 San Jose, Cal. 



A Oowbird's Nest and Eggs (?) 



Three years ago this summer while- 

 hunting for eggs, I had a singular ex- 

 perience. 



While advancing into a thicket, 1 

 discovered a nest made of very coarse 

 straws placed about four feet from the 

 ground in a small maple bush. The 

 bird on the nest was certainly a Cow- 

 bird, and the eggs wei'e certainly the 

 eggs of that species. There were five 

 eggs in all. 



I would like to know if any other 

 collectors ever had any such exper- 

 ience. 



A. L. Thokne, 

 Newark, N. Y. 



[Mr. T.'s nest was doubtless that of 

 some other species receiving a viits 

 from a cowbird. — Ed.] 



Was it the First Set? 



I notice that in W. De. La. Barre's 

 article in August number, he speaks of 

 a set of King Rail's eggs as the first 

 recorded set in Minnesota. 



This may be the fiist recorded set; but 

 in 1886, eggs from two sets came to my 

 notice collected in the vicinity of Min- 

 neapolis, Minn., a specimen of one of 

 which is now in my possession. 



I also have information of a speci- 



