64 



THE OOLOGIST "^H(^\y{)^ 



farm lands of the valley, rather than 

 in the more distant, more difficult 

 mountains. Leaving town with a 

 lunch in my pocket, I struck out to 

 the South, the notes of migrating and 

 newly arrived summer residents meet- 

 ing me on every side. 



About a mile south of the College, 

 I came to a big elm tree standing 

 along the border of a stream in an 

 open pasture where I had located a 

 pair of Sparrow Hawks, sometime pre- 

 viously. A sharp rap on the trunk 

 produced no results, but a shot from 

 a small rifle into the limb caused 

 the handsome little Falcon to dart out 

 into the open where she flew about 

 uttering her deflant cries. The nest 

 was forty feet up in an old Flicker's 

 l^ole in a dead limb, the cavity facing 

 East .and being about fourteen inches 

 in depth where the five eggs lay upon 

 the dry chips of wood. 



Leaving the tree, a walk of about a 

 mile brought us to an orchard on tha 

 edge of which a White-breasted Nut- 

 hatch was seen. My attention was 

 immediately transferred to him, and 

 after trailing him for almost an hou'" 

 he was seen to fly to a small knot hole 

 in an apple tree and feed the female. 

 As I tapped on the limb the female 

 flew out and stayed about, while the 

 hole was being chopped out and tlie 

 seven half incubated eggs secured. 

 The nest was back a foot in the knot 

 hole which was ten feet up on the 

 southern side of the tree. It was 

 warmly built of bark shreds, plant 

 fibres, wool, rabbit's fur and feathers. 

 The situation however, could not be 

 considered typical in this locality, as 

 it was far to low. 



Across the fields I saw a Sparrow 

 Hawk circling over a dead stump and 

 started toward it. Two shots in the 

 limb failed to produce any results, but 

 I started up as the hole looked sus- 

 picious, and I knew this to be a good 



locality. Looking in the hole I saw a 

 few feathers at the entrance and down 

 about four feet, saw the Hawk sitting. 

 The whole limb was hollow, so I split 

 a large piece out and lifted the Falcon 

 from the eggs. She made no outcry 

 as I tossed her into the air. There 

 was a well defined nest of grass and a 

 few feathers, and in the cavity lay 

 five poorly marked eggs. My ex- 

 perience with this bird has been that 

 the markings on the eggs wear off 

 very easily, and that fresh sets are al- 

 most invariably far handsomer than 

 those which have been sat on even for 

 a few days. 



In a clump of spruce trees at a large 

 spring, a Bronzed Grackle's nest was 

 found with three eggs, thirty-five feet 

 up and twelve feet out on the limb. 

 Nearby, but five feet higher, another 

 nest held five eggs apparently well in- 

 cubated. Both nests were built of 

 mud, weed stalks, and lined with fin? 

 grasses. 



Several nests of the Robin were 

 also found in typical situations and 

 \yith sets of from two to four eggs. In 

 this locality the average set is three, 

 though probably ten per cent of the 

 first broods contain four; but com- 

 plete sets of two are almost as com- 

 mon as four. I have never yet found 

 a nest with over four eggs, though 

 my friend, Richard F. Miller, has found 

 several. 



Returning to the vicinity of the col- 

 lege, I went up to the Strawberry 

 beds where some boys had described 

 the peculiar actions of a bird to me. 

 I soon saw the bird, a Killdeer, and 

 after watching her from a distance for 

 a little depression among the pebbles 

 at the base of a mustard plant between 

 the strawberry rows. 



Richard C. Harlow, 

 State College, Pa 



