THE NIDIOLOGIST 



into it, There were a few minute Itits of shell, 

 and besides this nothing but the albumen- 

 soaked nest bottom. I suspected a Blue Jay 

 which I had seen hovering around for some days. 

 "On the 5th day of May another nest of this 

 Warbler was found in a small clump of manza- 

 nitas, about four feet from the ground and about 

 half finished. It was in a field of oaks and 

 manzanita brush half a mile from the nearest 

 stream. On May 12 the nest and four eggs 

 were collected. The composition of this nest 

 is largely of a soft fiber, apparently from dried 

 weed stalks and of a grayish-black color. One 

 egg was found to have been laid daily until the 

 clutch was complete." 



R. S. Wheeler, of Ala- 

 meda, read a paper based 

 on observations recorded 

 in a rookery of Brandt's 

 Cormorant. A colony of 

 perhaps five hundred or 

 six hundred pair were 

 found nesting on a rocky 

 islet a few hundred yards 

 from the mainland of 

 Monterey County, Cal. 

 Other sea birds were not- 

 ed in the vicinity, includ- 

 ing Heermann's and 

 ^Vestern ( lulls, the Pigeon 

 Guillemot, and Black 

 Wyster-catcher. No nests 

 of the Cormorants were 

 placed on the mainland, 

 nor on any rock to be 

 reached from the shore 

 at low tide, owing to the 

 depredations of skunks 



and coons. A striking v 



feature was the distinct 

 division of the rookery 



into two stages of settlement. On one side of 

 the island — that toward the sea — were found 

 only two nests containing young birds in vary- 

 ing stages of growth. On the other and land- 

 ward side, and separated from their neighbors 

 by the crest of the island and some shrubbery, 

 were hundreds of nests all with fresh eggs or 

 slightly incubated ones. As the Brandt's ha\e 

 almost deserted the Farallons this year, it is 

 suggested that the fresh egg district was, jiro- 

 bably, settled by birds from the Farallons. who, 

 arriving late and finding the best location — 

 that toward the sea — already occupied, were 

 forced to resort to the poorer location. June 

 20 was the date of collection. 



D. A. Cohen read a paper on marsh collect- 

 ing. He also made note of having heard the 

 song of the California Towhee about the first of 

 June. It was about seven o'clock in the even- 



ing when a Towhee was observed sitting on a 

 small cypress tree uttering its song. The notes 

 were short and even, not very melodious, yet 

 pleasing to the ear and approaching a low, .soft 

 warble. The bird sang three or four times in 

 about tw'o minutes and disappeared. 



Mr. Emerson told of a nest of Calliope Hum- 

 mingbird which was built on a knot on a clothes- 

 line which was supported by two poles, at Frank- 

 town, Nev.; also of a nest of the California Tow- 

 hee built in an old coal oil can lying in a dry 

 gutter, which was odd, as there were abundant 

 nesting sites close at hand. 



The Club meets at Alameda September 7. 



OUNG GREAT HORNED OWLS. 

 (Pholographeti from life.) 



The Black Vulture. 



'""F^HIS species is very common around Tal- 

 I lahassee, Fla. It is found nesting in 

 -*- thick woods in brier patches. I once 

 took a set on the 19th of March, and judging 

 from the state of incubation the eggs must have 

 been laid about the last of February or the 

 first of March. The best time for collecting 

 fresh eggs is about the ist of April, though I 

 know of fresh eggs being collected in June. 



This Vulture will nest in the same place year 

 after year, no matter how much they are robbed. 

 They lay from two to three sets in a year, al- 

 w-ays nesting in the same brier patch. Another 

 favorite place for them to nest is under the 

 roots of some large tree that has blown down, 

 but the most common place is in a brier patch. 

 Winston, N. C. Brv.\n M. Gr.ant. 



