THE COLOGIST. 



229 



It seems as though their only object 

 in coming here, is to raise their little 

 family and get away again as quickly 

 as possible. For several years I have 

 tried to take a set (if their eggs, — this 

 season I am rewarded for my etlorts 

 ■with a nice set of six. 



On the 7th of May I noticed a male. 

 He seemed to be in a great hurry to 

 find a nesting site, and spent consider- 

 able time looking down a small stove 

 pipe that was sticking througli the top 

 of a fish-house, — a very poor place for 

 him to keep house. Tcj help the little 

 fellow along, I cut a hole in a cigar-box 

 and nailed the box up near by. The 

 next day I found him vei-y busily en- 

 gaged carrying moss into the box. 

 The 12th, a female was there to assist 

 in the work,^the most important ])art 

 of the family of course, and the nest 

 was ccmipleted in three days. Here 

 •came a stop to the proceedings by the 

 disappearance of the female for about a 

 week. Six days after her return, she 

 <;ompleted the set of six. 



The nest was made entirely of moss, 

 lined with a few horse hairs. Tiie eggs 

 are white, with a slight pinkish tinge, 

 spotted over the entire surface with 

 reddish-brown. On cme, the dots form 

 a ring around the middle of the egg, — 

 •on another, tlie smallest in the set, the 

 dots are quite fine. A few days after 

 taking the eggs and nest, 1 commenced 

 to look around for the next nesting- 

 place. Passing a barn one morning, 1 

 Avas surprised to see the female come 

 ■out of the barn through a broken win- 

 dow. In a short time, she was back 

 again with a mouthful of leaves. 



After Avaiting a few days, I returned 

 to search for the nest. Standing on a 

 shelf near the window, was a tin cup, 

 and there in the cup was the nest with 

 one egg. This time the complete set 

 was four, which I let her hatch. The 

 eggs were very similar to the first set. 



The nest was matle of dry leaves and 

 fine diy grass, with a few horse hairs 



for a lining. 



Whit Hakkison, 



Houston Co., Minn. 



Breeding of the Virginia Rail. 



On the loth of June,1890,while invest- 

 igating a swampy tract near here for 

 eggs of the common Red-wing Black- 

 bird, I discovered an egg lying on the 

 ground, in a depression on a small 

 hummock, caused l)y a fast disappear- 

 ing stump. On first finding it I could 

 think of nothing but the American 

 VVotjdcock, though the egg seemed 

 very small for that bird. But after re- 

 Hecting I concluded that it must be 

 some other bird as it was far too. late 

 for the Woodcocik to be In-eeding, here 

 at least. As I knew the set could not 

 be complete, I concluded to leave it for 

 positive identification and moi-e eggs, 

 when found the nest was 5 inches deep, 

 with no lining whatever. On June 17th 

 I visited the nest again and did not 

 find any bird on the nest. It was rain- 

 ing hard and the water was high 

 around it. The nest was well lined 

 with dead fiag, stalks and moss so as to 

 nearly' fill the cavity. It now measured 

 7 inches in diameter and was but slight- 

 ly hollowed. There were 4 eggs, all 

 alike. 



I was now certain that it was no 

 Woodcock's nest as the Woodcock sets 

 very soon after she laj's the 3d egg, so I 

 left the nest for further watching, 

 which as I afterward found was fortun- 

 ate. On tlie 19th I visited it again and 

 found the bird at home. 



I had never seen anything like it be- 

 fore so I did not disturb the nest 

 though I saw as she left the 

 nest that there were 6 eggs. As 

 the bird ran around in the flags I took 

 a good picture of it in mj' mind and 

 then went home and got out my Key 

 and found that it was the Virginian 

 Rail. As I had never found this bird 

 here befcn-e, though the Carolina Rail is 

 common, I naturall}' felt much elated. 



