136 



THE 05L0GIST. 



it likely. It is fair to think that if a 

 pair of birds builds its nest and hatches 

 two broods and brings them to matur- 

 ity it has enough to do. Many of the 

 obiquitous sparrows are robbed two 

 or four times, as they are persistent 

 nesters they continue to build and lay; 

 but if they are not disturbed they will 

 rear but two broods. 



From years of observations the fol- 

 lowing conclusions have been drawn : 

 Hawks and owls rear but one brood in 

 a season, but if disturbed in their nest- 

 ing arrangements they will make re- 

 peated attempts, and I have known of 

 hawks building three nests and laying 

 three sets of eggs in one season. This 

 was in the case of a red-tailed hawk. 

 Cooper's hawk has been known to build 

 three nests also. Red-shouldered, 

 marsh and sparrow hawks, and great- 

 horned screech and barred owls will al- 

 so lay two sets of eggs, if the first at- 

 tempt at nesting is broken up. I have 

 known of a pair of spotted sandpipers 

 building three nests and laying three 

 sets of eggs, the last of only three eggs. 

 Robins will always attempt to rear two 

 broods if undisturbed, and brown 

 thrashers and catbirds will often raise 

 two broods, but not always. Robins 

 begin nesting two weeks on the average 

 before the other thrushes. Bluebirds 

 generally lay two sets of eggs, and if 

 disturbed will continue the attempt. 

 Barn and eave swallows, and the com- 

 mon phoebe rear two broods if undis- 

 turbed; the latter species being the only 

 bird that I have found to lay four sets 

 of eggs in a season. A pair of these 

 birds built three nest and deposited 

 four sets of eggs, in numbers, 5, 5, 5, 4. 

 This instance is an excellent example 

 of the bird's pertinacity in attempting 

 to succeed when disturbed. I do not 

 think that any of the warblers or vireos 

 are given to rearing two broods in a 

 season. A fair rule to go by is this: 

 That if a bird lays its eggs as late as the 

 middle of May the species is not apt to 



attempt to rear two broods; whereas 

 the birds that lay two sets of eggs 

 habitually, as the robin and bluebird, 

 usually begin nesting by the first of 

 May. Nevertheless the late nesters are 

 equally persistent, as for instance the 

 goldfinch, which is often disturbed in 

 its first and second attempts at nesting 

 in July and August, and is therefore 

 not rarely found nesting in September. 

 Strictly speaking, there is not a month 

 in the year when eggs cannot be found 

 in the nests of our birds in the Great 

 Lake region, and I know of eggs in 

 nests in every month of the year ex- 

 cepting December. The great-horned 

 owl lays it eggs in February, and occa- 

 sionally in January, while I know of a 

 set of eggs of the bob-white being se- 

 cured in the middle of November. The 

 quail is a very peculiar bird in its odd 

 choice of time for egg laying, and has 

 been found laying at all times of the 

 year, it is said, and the female has been 

 found frozen stiff on the nest in the 

 middle of winter. When we consider 

 that this species lays from twelve to 

 twenty eggs at a clutch, and then the 

 length of time to hatch the eggs and 

 the time to bring the young to an age 

 to care for themselves, it appears ridi- 

 culous to claim that the quail rears two 

 broods in a season. It is quite likely 

 that the late nests of the autumn are 

 the result of previous disturbances in 

 the nesting arrangements of these birds 

 which have the persistence of the other 

 birds, and strong desires to bring forth 

 a brood. 



(To be Continued.) 



Morris Gibbs. 



