THE O O L O G I S T 



159 



WISCONSIN FIELD NOTES 



We are glad to note that the 

 Prairie Hen is quite common this 

 spring and summer. February 26th, 

 a pleasant day, saw a large flock of 

 Canada Geese going north. Saw more 

 or less for several weeks; saw taut 

 few Ducks. West of here, especially, 

 the Bobwhites are abundant, which 

 seems good. 



I find few of the rarer birds, and 

 more of the commoner birds' nests, 

 than usual. A Whippoorwill began 

 calling May 9th, and kept it up for a 

 week, and "poor Will," he always re- 

 ceived, or was to, from sixty to one 

 pauses. In other words this bird 

 would begin to call as soon as tne 

 moon came up and would repeat 

 (chuck) whippoorwill, without a 

 break, sixty or one hundred times, 

 sometimes faster, sometimes slower, 

 sometimes almost stopping and again 

 almost running ^way with himself. 

 Geo. W. H. vos Burgh, 



Fall River, Wis. 



BIRDS OF LANCASTER 



An Oologist regardless of his past 

 journeys and anecdotes can usually 

 boast of something new when the pres- 

 ent season is on the wane. This year 

 my enthusiasm rotates to the little 

 town of Lancaster, Ky., and particu- 

 larly the birds which nested on my 

 own premises; a lot with 75 feet 

 frontage on paved street, and a depth 

 of 150 feet. Between April first and 

 June 15th the following nests con- 

 structed within the above space, 

 Brown Thrasher 3, Catbird 1, Robin 1, 

 Maryland Yellow-throat 1, Chimney 

 Swift 1, Blue Jay 1, Bewick's Wren 2. 



The Wrens used the pump at the 

 side door and while the well was be- 

 ing emptied by the pailful the parent 

 stuck to her incubation. The same 



site was used at least one year previ- 

 ous. 



The Brown Thrasher . returns an- 

 nually to the old rambler rose bush 

 which straddles the fence at the wood 

 shed just twenty feet from the back 

 door. The Thrashers also nest in the 

 grape arbor. I found the Maryland 

 Yellowthroat's nest in the xij)right 

 crotch of a hugh burdock at the other 

 side of the woodhouse. There were 

 four fresh eggs on June 3rd. A maple 

 crotch thirty-flve feet up was selected 

 by the Jays and Robin built in a sap- 

 ling beside the walk. The'^i3atbirds 

 are bringing up their fanijly in the 

 midst of a thicket forn^d by the un- 

 restrained growth of seedling fruit 

 trees. 



The Wrens, Yellowthroats and 

 Robins sing and call off and on all day 

 long, from semi-exposed positions. 

 The Thrasher gives two concerts of 

 about one hour's duration each, 6 a. 

 m. and 5 p. m. The Catbird warbles 

 from the tree-top over the brooding 

 mate or from the telephone pole, sing- 

 ing for hours at a time in plain view. 

 The Brown Thrasher sang only while 

 his mate was attending to the first 

 nest and setting. He was in full song 

 for less than two weeks. 



The Swifts naturally used the big 

 chimney connecting with the open fire 

 place. The species listed below were 

 all found breeding within five hundred 

 yards of home. Cardinal, Mocking- 

 bird, Carolina Wren, Mourning Dove, 

 Flicker, Red-headed Woodpecker, 

 Bluebird, Wood Pewee and Field 

 Sparrow. The latter variety and 

 Grasshopper Sparrow, are very com- 

 mon, Dickcissels fairly so and Indigo 

 Buntings are numerous. 



June 11th I found an Indigo's nest 

 with three slightly incubated eggs, 

 quite thickly speckled with light brick 

 red. We watched both birds at the 

 nest for half an hour. The site chosen 

 for this unusually marked clutch was 



