88 The Wilson Bulletin — No. 95 



mains there as those of the Yellow Rail. The weather had evidently 

 sent them forth on their migration. 



Dolichonyx oryzivorus (Bobolink). On June 23, 1915, at the 

 same place as recorded under the Yellow Rail, one of the boys 

 asked me whether the Bobolink always nested down in the clover. 

 I said no, they often nest in clumps of ragweeds such as this one. 

 With these words I poked the barrel of my gun through the wire 

 fence into a clump of ragweeds, when up went a bird. It seemed 

 too little for a Bobolink, so I quickly collected the only male that 

 was hovering around, with one barrel and the female with the 

 other one. Both specimens are small birds, as the following meas- 

 urements show: c?, length 158mm, bill 11mm, wing 94mm, tarsus 

 22mm, tail 61mm; $, length 147mm, bill 11mm, wing 85mm, tarsus 

 21min, tail 57mm. The nest was abnormal. Mr. Gerald Alan Ab- 

 bott, the well known Oologist, says it reminds him of the nest of 

 the Lazuli Bunting and that he has seen one nest of the Dickcissel 

 similar to it. The eggs are still more abnormal. At a first glance 

 it looks as if you had four rather large Field Sparrow eggs before 

 you and it is only after a close examination that you begin to see 

 that there is still some of the characteristic Bobolink coloration to 

 be found. Professor Lynds Jones says they are all four runts. 

 When blown the eggs showed a little blood, thus proving that these 

 eggs were fertile. The measurement is 18.5x13.5; 17.5x13; 17x13.5; 

 17.5x14. 



It is to me the most perfect and interesting case of abnormality 

 of individual aberration. However, the members of the Wilson Club 

 may think differently and have here at this, their third annual meet- 

 ing, a splendid opportunity to distinguish themselves by creating 

 a new sub-species. (The birds, nest and eggs were placed on ex- 

 hibition for the members of the club and they all agreed that it 

 was one of the most peculiar things they had ever seen, and Dr. 

 Swope of Cincinnati, President of The Ohio Audubon Societies, 

 stated that the killing of the birds, the taking of nest and eggs 

 was certainly most justifiable under the circumstances.) 



W. P. Henninger. 



NOTES ON THE BARN SWALLOW. 



DuRiiVG the spring and summer of 1915, three pairs of Barn Swal- 

 lows nested in the farm buildings of our home, and all three pairs 

 failed to raise any young. 



The first pair that arrived occupied an old nest in a cow stable 

 on May 23. This pair was driven away by House Wrens which, 

 on June 25, occupied the swallow's nest, and afterwards raised a 

 brood of young. Another pair patched up an old nest in a scale 



