to find in this region, yet but two specimens 
have come to my notice. 
One was shot about thirty miles south of 
Denver, some time prior to 1887 ; another from 
the southern part of the State at a much earlier 
date. Horace G,. SMITH. 
Denver, Colo. 
( To be continued.) 
ea 
Notes From Michigan. 
(Department Edited by Dr. Morris Gibbs, Kalamazoo, 
Mich.) 
()* August 20, 1895, a Baird’s Sandpiper, 
Tringa bairdit, Coues, was taken by 
Mr. Leon J. Cole in company with W. 
E. Mulliken at Spring Lake, Ottawa County, 
Mich. These collectors have shown that this 
is the first recorded capture in the State, for, 
although Cook, in his Birds of Michigan, p. 93, 
credits Cabot, 1850, with this bird, these gen- 
tlemen have pointed out that the only represen- 
tative of the genus Z7inga in Cabot’s list is 
T. schinzii. he list does not give the English 
names, and Cook, mistaking the synonymy, 
gave the Baird’s instead of Bonaparte’s Sand- 
piper. 
Notwithstanding the report that the Bluebirds 
were about all killed off by the severe weather 
of last January and February, there were found 
a goodly number in Michigan during the past 
autumn. The writer heard but a single Blue- 
bird sing in southern Michigan in the spring 
of 1895, and ina fifty-nine mile carriage ride 
in June not a bird was seen, though the region 
traversed was a favorite one with these birds in 
former seasons. In early October, 1895, a 
small flock was seen, and at various times | saw 
flocks of from six to a score of birds, old and 
immature, and a friend of mine noted a flock of 
forty birds in October. Where these birds 
came from can only be conjectured, but they 
probably reached us from the North, as they 
were evidently migrating when observed. 
The Chautauguan for November contains 
an article upon the Passenger Pigeon by Simon 
Pokagon, Chief of the Pottawatomies in Michi- 
gan. Further reference will be given to this 
article. 
” aor 
ie Q 
++} 
BEING in its third year of successful publication, and 
now pretty thoroughly known, THE Nipo.ocisr has 
decided to discontinue its occasional distribution of 
free ‘‘sample” copies, except in exceptional cases. 
THE NIDOLOGIST 49 
Epiror NIDOLOGIST. 
Dear Sir: In answer to the inquiry of B. 
H.S. (Tue Nipotocist, Vol. Il, No. 2, p. 19), 
I send these notes concerning Spiza americana. 
It is possible that had Mr. Swales more 
carefully investigated the clover fields and up- 
land meadows out from Detroit he might have 
found that this ‘Little Meadowlark,” as it is 
sometimes called—and well so, too, for at a 
short distance the markings of the male bird 
appear very like those of Sturnella magna—had 
been breeding for some years past, and per- 
haps, locally, in some numbers. This he may 
have done, but from his note it cannot be 
known how far out and how general his meadow 
searches have been. 
Yet at Lansing, in four years of careful ob- 
servation, I failed to note a single specimen of 
this species, though my “tramping ground” 
took in the outlying country to Pine Lake, 
Park Lake, Williamston, Okemos, Trowbridge, 
and included the great Chandler’s Marsh, north 
of the Michigan Agricultural College, where, 
by the way, I met Mr. Swales years ago in Ab- 
bot Hall. Collectors knowing the ground will 
appreciate the extent and varied conditions in- 
cluded within this territory. I am expecting 
each season, however, to learn that the bird is 
now found in that same locality. 
It is scarcely ten years since the more ob- 
serving farmers in this section began to notice 
this new bird in their meadows. Its cheery 
“ CHIP, CHIP, CHEE, CHEE, CHEE, CHEE” (empha- 
sized on the second and third notes), from the 
topmost bough of some lone tree, is in fact apt to 
attract the attention of one who happens near. 
It has, during the past four years, been 
quite abundant here. Arriving rather late in 
spring, it builds its nest of grasses, collected 
near at hand, either upon the ground or fas- 
tened among the swaying clover stems a few 
inches above, where the four light blue, round- 
ish oval eggs are placed. I have found the 
young ready to leave the nest by June 20, and 
on about the same date have taken only slightly 
incubated sets of eggs. We may conclude, 
therefore, that they nest from the latter half of 
May through June. 
As is the case with many of our meadow 
nesters, great numbers of nests of the Dickcissel 
