THE OOLOGIST. 



91 



THE OOLOGIST 



EDITED AND PUBLISHED MONTHLY 

 -BY 



FRANK H. LATTIN, - ALBION, N. Y. 



Correspondence and Items of interest to the 

 student of Birds, their Nests and Eggs, solicited 

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Albion, Orleans Co., N. Y. 



Entered at the Post Office at Albion, N. Y., as 

 second-class mall matter. 



Brown-headed Nuthatch. 



This sprightly little fellow is a very 

 common bird here. Beginning to breed 

 early in March, they select some rotten 

 stump and there stait a hole after the man- 

 ner of a Woodpecker. Perhaps, after 

 pecking in a short ways they meet with 

 some obstruction, such as a stieak of hard 

 wood ; they abandon this hole and try an- 

 other, perhaps, with no better success than 

 at first. Nothing daunted, however, they 

 try again and succeed in making the hole, 

 meeting with no obstruction. Then comes 

 the nest proper. Usually they pick a lot 

 of rotten wood loose from the sides and 

 bottom, on top of this they lay a layer of 

 fine strips of pine bark; then comes the 

 lining which is a soft downy substance from 

 some vegetable plant. 



Eight or ten days later fi^ds incubation 

 going on, which lasts for twelve (12) days. 

 The eggs are very small and delicate; size 

 averages .51 x .60. White ground color 

 thickly sprinkled with reddish-brown dots, 

 sometimes forming a ring around the larger 

 end. I don't think there is more than one 

 brood raised, as I have never found them 

 nesting later than the middle of April. 



A. L. Q., Archer, Fla. 



Road Runner. 



California is the favorite resort of a great 

 many birds; from the wee humming bird to 

 the majestic Condor, that soars so high. 



The one that now occupies my attention, 

 is the Road Runner. J remember well the 

 first time I saw a Road Runner. About 

 eight years ago I was driving along a 

 country road in Sonoma Co., when a Road 

 Runner dashed across the road; a comical 

 affair, indeed, a long beak, long legs, and 

 long tail; but he wasn't very long getting 

 across that road. I wanted to get abetter 

 look at him, so I yelled whoa, partly to my 

 horse and partly to Mi - . Road Ruuner. My 

 horse minded all right but as for that long 

 legged bird he seemed to think his mamma 

 wanted him, so he lit out faster than ever 

 and disappeared behind a clump of trees. 



Not long afterward I found mysell in 

 Tulare Co. and very few Road Runners 

 breed there, so 1 could not study their 

 habits. 



Last Summer I noticed a few in San 

 Louis, Obispo Co. but as I was not prepared 

 to study them and it being to late in the 

 senson 1 did not try to get much information. 



The only nest I have found was March 

 15th 1886, containing four eggs. 



The Ornithology Report of Cal. can fur- 

 nish a much better description of this bird 

 than 1 can. 



The following is a description of the bird 

 as given in the Ornithology Report of Cal. 



Tail very long the lateral feathers much 

 shortest, an erective crest on the head, bare 

 skin behind the eye colored bluish white 

 and orange when alive; Legs very long and 

 stout. All the feathers of the upper 

 parts and wings of a dull metallic olivaceous 

 green, broadly edged with white near the 

 end, however a tinge of black in the green 

 along the line of white, which itself is 

 suffused with brown. 



On the neck the black predominates. 

 The sides and under surface of the neck 

 have the white feathers streaked central^ 

 with black, next to which is a brownish 

 suffusion. The remaining under parts are 

 whitish. 



Primary quills tipped with white, with a 

 median band across the outer webs, central 

 tail feathers olive brown, remaining ones 

 clear dark green all edged and (except the 

 central two) broadly tipped with white. 



Top of the head dark blackish blue. 

 Length 20 to 23 in. brown and yellow, 

 bill olive, feet black. 



The eggs are dirty white generally 3 to 9 

 in a clumsy nest placed in a cactus or some 

 other thorny bush. 



H. C. L., Hanford, Cal. 



