THE OOLOGIST 3H(^:>, W\~J 



45 



ent from the manner of McCown's, 

 which starts up and away when star- 

 tled from the nest. Soon this Long- 

 spur was joined by the male, whose 

 markings were unmistakable, a mot- 

 ley suit he wore indeed; and both of 

 the pair fluttered around me from 

 time to time while I examined the nest 

 to my satisfaction. It was in a small 

 round depression beside the base of a 

 trifling tuft of dried grass, being made 

 flush with the ground, of grayish dried 

 grass, the back part of the nest form- 

 ed by 'the base of the tuft so that the 

 nest material was lacking at that part; 

 in fact, there was no nest architecture, 

 the material merely lining the depres- 

 sion. This nest contained five eggs. 

 Nest 13, a. June 1. Western 

 Meadowlark. — This species on the 

 benches of the northwest is a counter- 

 part of the Meadowlark on the Illinois 

 farm lands. It is associated more with 

 the bottom ranches than with the 

 high bench pastures. In all respects 

 it is like the eastern species, except 

 the variations in its singing, and its 

 occurrence in the agricultural sections 

 of the Judith Basin is in about the 

 same ratio as its relative on the farms 

 of central Illinois. The finding of a 

 nest of the Western Meadowlark in 

 the Judith Basin is an event of little 

 importance except to the student of 

 birdlife, but this particular nest is 

 worth mentioning. The female was 

 sitting close, as I was investigating 

 the weeds at the edge of a small irri- 

 gating ditch, and my foot was press- 

 ing the edge of the nest when she flew 

 out, though the male was chirping 

 anxiously on a nearby fence, no doubt 

 fearing what was coming. The nest 

 was under a tuft of long dried grass, 

 opening sun-ward, nicely rounded, and 

 domed with the fallen grass. Upon 

 looking" into the snug structure, I was 

 at first undecided what I had found, 

 for there were only two eggs of the 



Meadowlark with five eggs of the Cow- 

 bird, a most unusual combination. In 

 fact, it was the first time I had ever 

 found the parasite's eggs in a nest 

 of this species, though later I discov- 

 ered that the Cowbird frequently im- 

 poses upon the Meadowlark in the 

 northwest. 



THOMAS G. HAWLEY. 



Thomas G. Hawley, one of those 

 princes of Ornithologists reports the 

 following from Bridgeport, Conn.: 



A set of Spotted Robin's eggs, a set 

 of 6 Robin's eggs, a set of 6 Green 

 Herring's eggs and a set of White Blue 

 Bird's eggs, all the result of "poking 

 his nose into every nest he finds"; a 

 mighty good habit to get into, regard- 

 less of whether the nest is that of a 

 common species or a rarety, therein 

 rests one of the real lures of the 

 game; a possibility of discovering the 

 unexpected and desirable at any time 

 and in any nest. — Editor. 



CLEANING BIRD EGGS. 



I have just found out what to use to 

 clean eggs. I guess many have used 

 this method but it may be of some use 

 to others. I received a set of quail 

 eggs, they were badly stained and dirty 

 so I took some gasoline then a small 

 rag and wrapped it around my finger. 

 First I dipped the rag in the gas then 

 rubbed the egg where the stain was. 

 Well this took some of the stain off, 

 but it did not satisfy me so I wet the 

 rag again and then dipped it in plaster 

 paris and then rubbed the egg shell 

 and I was surprised at the effect it 

 had on the shell. I did not succeed in 

 taking all the stain off, but made the 

 shell much clearer and white. I also 

 used this method on some eggs that 

 had been poorly marked with ink and 

 indelible pencil. I had fairly good 

 luck with this, when, if I had tried to 

 wash them with soap and water I 



