92 



THE OOLOGIST 5'^(>)) \^T 



/ 



the sweet call of the Meadow Lark 

 came to our ears and we looked and 

 there on the top of a small apple tree 

 there were two. Soon we came to a 

 sandy piece of waste land covered with 

 small weed stalks and feeding there 

 were Redpolls, Tree Sparrows and 

 Slate-colored Juncos. The sweet song 

 of the Song Sparrow was also heard 

 from a nearby bush which says spring 

 is coming. 



As we were now about to leave the 

 tracks to the road that would take us 

 to the trolley for New Haven, we ob- 

 served four Blue Birds perched on a 

 telegraph wire, the first seen this 

 season. It being somewhat muddy, we 

 washed our shoes and returned home 

 having spent a very pleasant day with 

 the birds. 



N. W. Wilmot. 

 New Haven, Conn. 



RESOURCEFUL ROBIN. 



In the course of my field work I 

 have chanced upon many unusual nest- 

 ing sites; but I think the one I am 

 about to describe is especially charac- 

 terized by its oddness. 



One day last summer (May 28, 1916) 

 while walking over a railway trestle 

 which spans the Annapolis River at a 

 point some 50 miles from Wolfville, I 

 was surprised to see a robin fiy out 

 from under my feet. Glancing dowi 

 between the sleepers (I was then half 

 way across the bridge), I saw a nest 

 containing four eggs. It was placed 

 on a beam within two or three feet of 

 the steel rails, over which several 

 times daily there thundered the heavy 

 trains of the Halifax & Southwestern 

 Railway. 



I was at a loss to account for the 

 selection of this noisy and nerve-rack- 

 ing building site; about the last place 

 a careful mother would choose for a 

 nursery. Crossing the bridge I 

 stumbled upon what I have always be- 

 lieved to be the explanation. 



A few yards from the track in a 

 spruce bush I saw another robin's 

 nest with the lining ripped up, the 

 work of some marauding Jay or Crow. 

 My theory is that this was the former 

 home of the family beneath the bridge, 

 who to avoid a repitition of the dis- 

 aster which had overtaken them in 

 the spruce had decided to take their 

 second chance in the unique location 

 just described. 



Robie W. Tufts. 

 Wolfville, Nova Scotia. 



April 11, 1917. 



COPY. 



To all those to whom this notice shall 



come: GREETING: 



You and each of you are hereby 

 notified that the copy box of The 

 Oologist runneth low and you are 

 therefore hereby directed, ordered and 

 commanded to forwith replenish the 

 same if you would assist as you should 

 in keeping up this magazine to its 

 present high standard. 



Editor. 



NESTING .OF .THE .BACHMAN'S 



SPARROW IN SOUTHWESTERN 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



I have added to my collection the 

 nest and five eggs of Bachman's Spar- 

 row. This addition came as a Christ- 

 mas remembrance from the collector. 

 Prof. S. S. Dickey, who took the set 

 and parent birds near Waynesburg, 

 Pennsylvania, on May 20, 1916. 



This is probably the first authentic 

 set of Peucaea aestivalis bachmani 

 taken within the limits of Pennsyl- 

 vania. 



The nest was situated on a hillside 

 at the edge of an open grove of white, 

 red and black oaks, and was composed 

 of dry grass and weed stalks, lined 

 with dry grass blades and horse hair. 

 The writer found a similarly situated 

 nest, which no doubt belonged to the 

 Bachman's Sparrow, on May 16, 1909. 



