It also feeds upon grains and seeds, the 

 tender leaves and buds of herbaceous 

 plants and berries. 



Though the usual nesting site of Gam- 

 bel's Partridge is a slight hollow, exca- 

 vated by the bird in the light soil of 

 bottom lands and usually under the pro- 

 tection of a tuft of tall grass, other situa- 

 tions are sometimes chosen. They will 

 nest in grain fields or in brush fences. 

 Major Bendire found one nest which 

 was placed in a slight depression on the 

 top of a willow stump over two feet 

 above the ground. Another pair, which 

 he observed, had appropriated an old 

 road-runner's nest in a mesquite tree 

 about five feet above the ground. It has 

 also been known to nest in rather large 

 cactus plants. Major Bendire suggests 



as a reason for these birds leaving the 

 ground and resorting to trees and cacti 

 for a nesting site, the fact that they have 

 "undoubtedly lost their eggs or small 

 young on former occasions, and learned 

 from experience that such a situation is 

 in many respects a safer one." It is well 

 known that large snakes, and in some 

 itistances, gila monsters prey upon their 

 eggs. 



The eggs, usually ten to twelve in the 

 set, are often laid on the dry soil. When 

 a lining is present in the nest it generally 

 consists of a small quantity of dry grass 

 and leaves. In some instances the nest 

 cavity is so deep and so narrow that 

 the eggs are placed in twO' horizontal 

 layers, the one on top of the other. 



TWO CURIOUS OBJECTS. 



Nature, Emerson tells us, is always 

 consistent, and even when she feigns to 

 contravene her laws she but keeps and 

 transcends them. Such transcension, 

 then, is responsible for the natural 

 freaks which even an ordinary observer 

 encounters in the course of his wander- 

 ings. 



Within the comparatively small area 

 known as Greene county. New York, the 

 writer during the past summer, came 

 across several interesting and curious 

 specimens, all of which attested a step- 

 ping aside from the general order. Of 

 the two most noteworthy, one was a 

 great thistle, a giant of its species, 

 revealing upon a casual glance, little or 

 no resemblance to its Scotch cousin of 

 historic fame. Certainly no soldiers, 

 Danish or otherwise, could make the mis- 

 take of stepping upon this monster; for 

 from root to tip it measured fully ten 

 feet. In form it resembled a tree, with 



its lowest branches quite eighteen inches 

 from the ground. In all other respects 

 it was absolutely true to its type, leaves 

 and blossoms being of average size. Two 

 such specimens were known in the con- 

 fines of Greene county (though others 

 may have existed), and these two grew 

 several miles apart. 



Perhaps even more curious is the 

 chestnut tree, which bears its nuts with- 

 out the usual burr. This unique tree 

 flourishes near Freehold, Greene county, 

 and is an object of interest to all who 

 see it. It grows, leaves and blossoms, 

 quite as other chestnut trees do ; while 

 its nuts, on the authority of one who has 

 tasted them, are of average size and 

 flavor. These nuts are borne in clusters 

 of three, but the burr is absent, unless the 

 barklike covering which the parent tree 

 endeavors to provide for them, may be 

 so designated. 



Louise Jamison. 



