THE OOLOGIST. 



11 



We then had no difficulty in finding the 

 nest, which contained four young birds. 

 It was not more than two feet above the 

 ground, and was composed of first straws 

 and grasses, then fine pieces of twigs, a few 

 dried leaves, some small pieces of weed- 

 stalks, and lastly of hairs and a small quan- 

 tity of the soft, silky substance found in the 

 seed-pods of some kinds of weed. The nest 

 was placed against one of the two main 

 forks of the shrub, to which it Avas rather 

 well fastened ; it was not deep nor very 

 large. The young birds appeared to have 

 been about five days out of the shell. Not- 

 withstanding the female was very timid, 

 much more so than one would suppose un- 

 der the circumstances, we obtained without 

 the necessitiy of shooting, a fair sight of the 

 male, which soon appeared on the complaint 

 made by his mate. 



It has often been supposed that the high 

 hills and knolls which cross Herkimer Coun- 

 ty in every direction, especially those bor- 

 dering the West Canada Creek, form the 

 bleeding haunts of many birds whose oc- 

 currence there is generally doubted, and in- 

 vestigation will probably show this War- 

 bler to be a regular summer resident there. 



Nest and Eggs of Townsend's Fly- 

 catcher. 



TN July, 1876, while rambling with my 

 -^ brother over the mountains of Summit 

 County, Colorado, it was my good fortune 

 to find, at an altitude of about ten thousand 

 feet, the nest of Townsend's- Flycatcher 

 {JMyiadestes townsendi)^ and as no de- 

 scription of its eggs has as yet appeared, 

 perhaps the following may not be uninter- 

 esting : The nest was very loosely, and, ex- 

 ternally, shabbily built of long dry grasses, 

 straggling two feet or more below it. It 

 was placed in the upper bank of a miner's 

 ditch (running from Bear River, above 

 Brekenridge, to the Gold Run and Bufifalo 

 Flat diggings), and was partly concealed 

 by overhanging roots ; yet it was rendered 

 so conspicuous by the loose swaying mater- 



ial of which it was composed, as well as by 

 that which had become attached to the over- 

 hanging roots during its construction, as to 

 attract the eye of an experienced collector 

 when yet some rods away. On nearing the 

 nest the bird immediately took flight, and 

 alighted on the topmost branch of the near- 

 est pine. Resting uneasily here for half a 

 minute, it then, in short, uncertain flights, 

 worked its way down the mountain side and 

 out of sight. Withdrawing to a convenient 

 cover, we had only to wait a few moments 

 for the bird to return, perch herself on a 

 branch a few feet from the nest, peer anx- 

 iously into it, and then quickly resume her 

 task of incubation. Moving cautiously a- 

 long the bank above the ditch, we tried to 

 capture the bird by placing a hat over the 

 nest, but, miscalculating its location by a 

 few inches, the bird eluded the stroke and 

 made good her escape, as she did also on 

 our second attempt to capture her. Again 

 retreating to cover, we waited for half an 

 hour for the bird to return, when suddenly 

 we espied it flying from branch to branch, 

 displaying by its restless motions more anx- 

 iety and suspicion than before, yet constant- 

 ly working nearer its home, which it soon 

 reached and settled quietly again to business. 

 After the last unsuccessful attempt to catch 

 the bird, a stick was placed on the bank di- 

 rectly over the nest, to mark its exact lo- 

 cality, and this time, moving with less haste 

 and more caution, we gained the desired 

 position, lay down on the bank, and taking 

 a hat in each hand quickly covered the 

 opening and secured the unfortunate bird, 

 and also the opportunity of giving to or- 

 nithologists an authentic account of the 

 number, size, and coloration of the eggs. 

 The nest contained four eggs, very closely 

 resembling those of the Shrikes. The 

 ground-color is dull white or bluish, thick- 

 ly blotched or freckled with reddish-brown. 

 The measurements of the three specimens 

 preserved are 1.01 by .66, .94 by .68, and 

 .88 by .66. ' Incubation had been going 

 on for about ten days, and unfortunately 

 one egg was destroyed in cleaning. — Wil- 

 bur F. Lamb, in JSPuttall Bulletin. 



