A QUEER NEST SITUATION 
Watching a Poor-will. 
ETURNING at dusk on my wheel from 
a short ride up a canyon in the foot- 
hills on January 17 I flushed a Dusky 
Poor-will out of the road. As the moon 
had just risen I got off my wheel and follow- 
ing in the direction the bird had taken I 
soon saw it again on the ground. Kneel- 
ing down within a few feet I watched it fly 
up and catch insects and return to the 
same spot after the manner of some Fly- 
catchers and Woodpeckers. 
It soon flew into the road and here 1 
walked up within twenty feet of it. After 
flying after insects it would alight a couple 
of feet nearer to me until it had approached 
within eight teet. After watching it a 
while I crawled up within four feet and had 
a chance to watch it in the bright moon- 
light. It would fly perbaps twenty or 
thirty feet into the air after insects and 
return again within four or five feet of me. 
One time it flew up and evidently picked an 
insect off the leaf of a wild cherry tree, flut- 
tering for several seconds in its endeavor 
to doso. It several times flew by me after 
food and returning would fly within a foot 
or so of my head and alight just in front of 
THE NIDIOLOGIST 105 
me. Onetime it lit in the grass just by 
the side of the road and looked much like a 
Hawk when it lights in a slender tree-top 
with its tail as high as its head. It stayed 
here but a second or so and then ran or 
waddled a short distance into the solid road. 
While sitting in the road it would some- 
times raise its head after the manner of a 
Killdeer. 
Three or four times it uttered a low guee?, 
gueet or pweek. After watching it twenty 
minutes or so I tried to catch it. Crawling 
up slowly I wriggled the fingers of my left 
hand in front of it while I moved my hat up 
behind it, ’till with a sudden movement the 
hat was over it, bu. unfortunately for me 
the front end of the hat didn’t descend as 
quickly as the hind end, and the bird flut- 
tered out. ‘This experience did not seem to 
scare it, for three minutes afterwards I had 
crawled up within three or four feet and was 
watching it again. I did not attempt to 
capture it the second time but watched it 
till it flew away. About the middle of 
November I saw a Poor-will fly across the 
road a few hundred yards from this place 
and would like to know if the bird winters 
here, or is this an unusually early arrival 
from the South. 
Berryessa, Cal. 
—a @ 
R. H. BECK. 
Curious Nesting of Vigor’s Wren. 
We are indebted to Corydon Chamberlin 
for the sketch of an unusual nesting site of 
Vigor’s Wren. The nest was placed inside 
of a small rag carpet which had been tacked 
to a manzanita bush ona hillside in Lake 
county, Cal. Writes Mr. Chamberlin: 
‘“The nest was completely obscured by the 
folds of the carpet. I pinned a piece of 
twine to one side and tied it back to expose 
it while I made a hurried pencil sketch. I 
have not tried to represent the rain that fell 
while I was thus engaged.”’ 
— <> 
Can’t Do Without It. 
“‘The Story of the Farallones,’’ by C, Barlow and H. 
R. Taylor. This neat little booklet containes twenty- 
eight photo-engravings of more than usual excellence, 
illustrating the physical features and bira life of that 
paradise of the birds, which, with the eleven pages of 
well written text descriptive of the island life and 
and features makes one feel well acquainted with the 
place. The fact that the island has lately been closed 
to visitors makes it the more necessary to possess one 
of these booklets, which can be purchased of H.R. 
Taylor, Alameda, Cal., at the very low price of fifty 
cents. Noonecan afford to be without a copy.—‘‘Gen- 
eral Notes.” (Bul. 14, Wilson Orn, Chapter of the 
Agassiz Ass'n.) 
a 
