Ii2 
THE NIDOLOGIST 
Notes on Western Eggs and Nests. 
OOKING over my ’96 note-book I find 
three or four items that may be of 
interest to the readers of the Nip. 
The first is Gated April 7, a set of five, 
Western Red-tail, from a nest ina sycamore 
35 feet up. My mouth and eyes opened 
when I first gazed into the nest. Besides 
being larger than any other set I have taken 
or heard of, one of the eggs is larger than 
any other Red-tail’segg I have, and is larger 
than the largest measured Red-tail’s egg in 
Major Bendire’s ‘‘Life Histories.’’ It meas- 
ures 2.78x2.08 inches. ‘The other eggs of 
the set are a little larger than the average, 
being 2.50x1.93, 2.36x1.88, 2.47xI.g1 and 
2:35x1.88. They areall fairly well marked. 
On the 8th of June I started out in the 
morning from camp in the Sierras at about 
5000 feet elevation. Had not gone very 
far when I flushed a Solitaire from a nest 
on the ground in the cavity of a burnt pine 
tree. The bird flew a few feet toa low 
pine limb and I shot it, but unfortunately 
it was not ‘‘killed dead’’and managed to 
get into some brush where I was unable to 
find it. Returning tothe nest I found it to 
be composed of pine needles and fine grass, 
loosely made and containing three fresh 
eggs. The nest was well back from the 
opening of the tree which was standing, 
though only supported by a rim of wood, 
one side and the center being burned up 
for some distance. 
The eggs are marked principally on the 
larger ends, and measure .89x.68, .87x.67, 
.87x.66. 
On June 15 at Lake Tahoe I found a nest 
of Williamson’s Sapsucker containing four 
newly hatched young, two incubated anp 
one rotten egg. ‘The d was onthenest at 
two different times when I visited the tree. 
The entrance hole was very small, fifteen 
feet from the ground. ‘The tree was a de- 
cayed pine a few feet from the shore of the 
lake. Four feet above the Sapsucker’s 
nest in another hole wasa set of four Moun- 
tain Bluebird’s eggs in a nest composed 
largely of fine grass; and four feet above 
the Bluebird’s nest, in another hole, was a 
set of seven Tree Swallow’s eggs, in a nest 
composed principally of Duck and Pelican 
feathers. The three holes containing the 
nests faced west, north and east, respect- 
ively. I have now in my collection the sets 
of Bluebird and Swallow and the single egg 
of the Sapsucker. 
Two or three sets of Black Tern’s eggs — 
were taken from nests placed on old boards — 
and planks floating inaswamp near the 
Iake. The majority of nests seen were 
3 
\ ge 
r'aced on the water a” ongst the grass. : 
R. Hi Beck) 
Berryessa, Cal. : > ‘@ 
—__—<—oe ¢oe—____ 
An Insulted Owl. | 
On April 15 I visited a Florida Screech — 
Owl’s nest, and after removing Mrs. O., ‘ 
found the nest to contain threeeggs. Think- 
ing that perhaps it was not a complete set, 
yet fearing to leave the eggs, I substituted 
a hen’s egg—which was about twice the 
size of the Owl's egg—and took the set. 
Returning to the nest about twenty-five 
days later I found the egg hatched and the © 
chick running about on the bottom of the © 
hollow, while Mrs. O. was sitting on a 
limb near by, apparently disgusted with — 
the state of affairs. I took the chick and — 
placed it with a hen, where it lived about 
a week. The nest was eighteen feet from — 
the ground in a hollow, one and a half feet — 
deep. 
i 
rt Oe ee es 
ty Scablet 
GILMAN J. WINTHROP. 
Tallahassee, Fla. 4 
—— 
Case of Bird Sense—or What? 
On June 24, 1894, I took aset of five eggs © 
of Desert Sparrow Hawk, near Sargents, © 
Cal., under peculiar circumstances. About © 
two weeks earlier when I visited the live © 
oak tree I had secured a set of eight of — 
Yellow-billed Magpie, and in an old weath- 
er-beated Magpie’s nest in same tree, about © 
18 feet distant, there was one fresh egg of © 
the Sparrow Hawk. On my next visit on © 
the 24th I was surprised on climbing to the | 
nest to find it empty, nor was there a sign | 
of an egg shell. I took a look into the | 
Magpie’s nest IT had robbed and found the | 
five eggs of the Sparrow Hawk partly incu-— 
bated. | 
Query—Did my little Falco take advant- 
tage of the improved condition of affairs and 
carry its one egg to the better nest, there to 
set up housekeeping under more fashionable 
auspices? H. R. TaAyior. 
—=_ > 
JoHN W. DANIEL JR , writes us from Washington, 
D.C: ‘‘Have just received froma collector of mine 
in Virginia something quite novel in the egg line. It is 
aset of perfect ‘albino’ eggs of the Whip-poor-will, 
normai in size, and with the usual glossy white ground, 
but without a vestage of a marking.”’ 
