THE OOLOGIST. 



nest and one o<rg outside lodged in tlie twi<rs. 

 April 18, Woodcoi-k, 4 livditly-sliaded ejrgs. 

 June 3, Woodcoi'li, 4 dark-colored o,ir;jjs. 



- This last otcrourse was a seeond brood ; the 

 eiifgs contained vapid eml)ryos, for uiy set- 

 ter Cai'l cau_i>lit tlie female, and I did not 

 discover tlie nest till some days ai'terward. 

 May i). Ruffed (J rouse, o egj^s. May "iO, 

 Ruffed Grouse, 1 1 i'resh ej>gs. Tliis last 

 nest was in a lienilock grove, hollowed in a 

 deep bed of ])ine needles, and lined w ith 



- glossy and perl'ect oak leaves, plaited in lay- 

 ers with a skill remarkable in a Grouse. 

 May 14, with a friend, I foiuid two King- 

 fishers' holes ou the banks of the Fachang 

 River. I gave my friend first choice of 

 holes, and having made his own selection, 

 we began digging. I took a line set of 7 

 fresh egirs from mine with little effort, but 

 my friend, after mining eleven feet and bur- 

 ying himself twi(;e in sand and i-lay, fotnid 

 but one QiS'^. Somehow he didn't seem 

 satisfied with his choice ! April '2.'). Bar- 

 red Owl, with one cg'^ only containing 

 large embryo. I was obliged to send up 

 a club to my climber to defend himself from 

 the attacks of the female. First and last 

 1 have found a numljer of these Owls breed- 

 ing, and my experience is that they jsre the 

 only birds at tlu; north that will fight in de- 

 fense of their eggs. Every vai-iety of Hawk 

 will observe a safe distance from the climb- 

 er, with perhaps the single exception of the 

 Fish Hawk — which, however, is not a true 

 Hawk, being more allied to the Kagles. 

 .lune 1, Green Heron o eggs. This bird 

 invariably lays 5 eggs. I examined 31 

 nests of the Crow last year, and in but one 

 was there G eggs. Out of n^.g'iy Orioles' 

 I found two sets of 5 — 4 eggs being the 

 rule. June 1, Spottd Sandpiper 4. The 

 eggs are always big end up and invariably 

 4. I have, seen Woodcocks' with ."). June 

 3, Humming Bird, Night Hawk and Whip-' 

 poorwill. These invariably have 2 eggs 

 each. Of very many Cuckoos' nests found 

 in this exceptional season, there was but 

 one set of 4. Three was the rule ; often 

 only 2 with embryos. Of a thousand Rob- 

 ins' nests, into which I probably have look- 



ed in my life, I have never seen a set of 5 

 eggs, and if I should look in a thousand 

 more, it is not likely I would ever again 

 see that anomaly : a white Robin's egg. In 

 June Tanagers bred here in the oak woods 

 freely. The commonest bird breeding here 

 last season, aside from the Thrushes, was 

 the Least Flycather. The rarest was the 

 Cow Bunting. And yet some years, as ev- 

 ery collector knows, small nests will be 

 entirely monopolized by this pest, and it is 

 not uncommon to get from half a dozen to 

 a dozen in a day. Why they bred so spai*^ 

 ly the past season, is a new frt.'ak of this 

 curious parasite which it might be interest- 

 ing to explain. 



Flickku, F'licker ! 

 Perhaps of all the birds breeding in this 

 latitude, the one most irregidar in the num- 

 ber (jf its eggs, next to the Quail and Ruff- 

 ed Grouse, is the Golden-wi ged Wood- 

 pecker. It never lays less tlijm o ; 7 and >> 

 are commonly sets. I have ,e n nest-; con- 

 taining t), and by my last fieui book, I find 

 it was as late as June 4, I found one high 

 up in a chestnut limb sitting on 10 eggs. 1 

 broke one <i!iii;^ and. finding it nearly hatch- 

 ed, left the renuiining 0, feeling that they 

 ought to produce '■'■squabs" enough to sat- 

 isfy any reasonable parents. 



Indications are that spring will be some- 

 what late in opening the s ason for Hawks" 

 eggs, as at this writing (March 24), there 

 are still from five to thirty inches of solid 

 snow upon the ground. This applies to tlw' 

 northern parts of Ii^astern United States.; 



i Information received from Illinois con- 

 ; tains a favorable report of the advanced 

 : state of the season there, stating the arri- 

 ! val of the bulk of the Hawks, Sparrow*;, , 

 : Vireos, Pigeons, Geese, Blackbirds, &c. ■ | 

 I at all the central and southern points of th.'it 

 State. Many nests, also, in process of con- 

 struction, are reported. 



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