108 



THE OOLOGIST 



eggs; going about the 20th of May. 

 On this date the present year accom- 

 panied by a niece, an understudy in 

 bird oology and taxidermy, we drove 

 five miles to Thompson and securing 

 a boat were soon rowing down the 

 west side of the lake where the dead 

 willows were in considerable number. 

 The loud, clear weet! weet! weet! 

 notes of the males were soon heard 

 after leaving the boat landing. Many 

 Tree Swallows too were all about us, 

 very tame. Perhaps less than fifty 

 yards was made before a beautiful 

 male was secured falling in the water 

 but was quickly retrieved and dried 

 with corn meal and then wrapped in 

 paper. After examining several cavi- 

 ties in the dead snags and trees one 

 was found that looked very promising 

 and when Miss Edna stood up in the 

 boat to peep into it a female flew out 

 almost in her face and almost making 

 her fall out of the boat. The dead 

 bark and wood being removed, six 

 eggs were found to be the comple- 

 ment. This I have found to be the 

 usual number; sometimes only five 

 are laid. And three times in my ex- 

 perience I have found sets of seven. 

 The eggs are very beautiful, almost 

 spherical, shell hard, markings exqui- 

 site and varied, and usually each one 

 of a set following the same pattern. 

 A set mark is almost impossible as 

 the egg is so covered with colorings. 

 As a rule the female is not taken and 

 a new set is produced in two or three 

 weeks. When it can be had the nest 

 is often composed entirely of the 

 green moss that grows on the nearby 

 live willows. When the lake is high 

 and the moss covered up, dry grass, 

 stems and stalks and fine rootlets are 

 often used. The cavity is usually 

 filled with this material to within four 

 or five inches of the opening, and then 

 a cuplike depression is made and the 

 eggs laid. Sometimes the cavity is 



filled with moss all but a lining of 

 grasses for the nest proper. A cavity 

 over the water is preferred and one 

 not over four to six feet above it. 

 This, however, is not strictly adhered 

 to as last year a nest was found six- 

 teen feet above the water in a little 

 live ash tree containing the usual six 

 eggs, and this year one was found 

 back on dry land quite a distance from 

 the water line. 



Continuing down the lake several 

 fine males were secured, using light 

 loads of No. 12 shot, smokeless pow- 

 der and a 20 gauge hammerless dou- 

 ble barrel Utica N. Y. gun, which I 

 have found to be about perfection for 

 all kinds of collecting. Several more 

 sets were taken, in all about seven or 

 eight. A fine Solitary Sandpiper was 

 seen picking on the moss covered 

 water and was easily secured. 



A good many Yellow-billed Cuckoos 

 were in the willows and several were 

 taken which proved to be males. Two 

 sets of Tree Swallows eggs, one of 

 five and the other of six and a pair 

 of the glossy greenish black males 

 were secured. One nest of Prothono- 

 taus containing six young was found 

 but not disturbed. 



Bull, Black and Water Snakes were 

 seen on many of the willows and some 

 apparently searching for nests as they 

 are not averse to a dinner of eight 

 young birds or the eggs, as 1 have 

 often discovered. A fisher brought me 

 a few days ago a Bull snake that he 

 captured on Grass Lake that was over 

 seven feet long and on skinning it 

 was found to contain a whole family 

 of nearly half grown Bronze Grack- 

 les. 



Returning to the landing and eat- 

 ing our lunch we left the boat and 

 went up the lake on land; finding up 

 here the nests contained no eggs at 

 all or only partial sets which we did 

 not care for. In the top of a hollow 



