BIRDS. 169 



juniper. The latter mass is well woven and makes a warm, comfortable structure. The outer 

 diameter of the nest is 8J inches; the inner diameter 4J inches; the inside depth 3| inches, and 

 the outside depth 5 inches. 



The two eggs measure, respectively, 1.22 by .95 and 1.20 by .90. The ground-color is light gray- 

 ish-green, speckled and blotched with grayish, principally about the larger end. On the smaller 

 egg the spots are finer and more evenlj^ distributed, half of them being rather of a lavender color 

 than gray. These eggs resemble in shape those, of Maximilian's Jay, two of whose eggs I have 

 from Mr. Aikeu out of a nest found by him in Colorado. 



All the nests found by Captain Bendire were placed in pines, well out on the branches, and 

 generally 20 or 40 feet from the ground. The edges of forests are preferred and trees well 

 supplied with branches. The female sits closely, and seems devoted to her eggs and young. 

 When the first nest was visited the bird refused to leave until some of her tail-feathers were pulled 

 out in removing her, and she returned to her nest before the man had left it. On the second visit, 

 in order to see how much disturbance these birds would bear when on the nest, he fired a shot 

 into the liml) on which the nest was placed. He threw sticks at the nest, striking the base once 

 or twice; still no bird appeared; but when he sent a man to examine it, and the latter approached 

 within a foot or so, the bird left. 



Mr. Lord tells us that a few of these birds winter in British Columbia, the majority leaving 

 for the south in September. On their arrival in May and early June they assemble in immense 

 flockSj and keep up a nearly constant discord, screaming and chattering, and raising such a din 

 that one is deafened by it. During about a week of this reassemblage all their wooing is done, 

 and the best birds carry off the fairest partners. The single nest he found was in a pine tree 

 about 200 feet above the ground. It was large, built of fir twigs and bits of bark, with pine-needles, 

 root fibers, some moss and gray lichen mixed carelessly in it. The eggs were destroyed when the 

 tree fell and the nest 'was much damaged. 



Sturnella magna neglecta (Aud.). Western Meadow Lark. 



In J. K. Lord's entertaining I^aturalist in British Columbia, we learn that these birds "are 

 generally distributed throughout British Columbia, extending north to Sitka and even farther for 

 aught I know." The preceding is the only record of this species from Alaska, and as later col- 

 lections from Sitka do not contain this bird it can scarcely be common there. Mr. Lord continues 

 in his pleasant style concerning these birds in British Columbia (Vol. II, 146): 



After being shut up, and closely imprisoned by the bitter cold and deep snows of a North-Western winter, one 

 hails with delight the first heralds, announcing the prospect of speedy relief— sunshine and summer. The Meadow 

 Larks (or starlings, more correctly) are amongst the earliest arrivals, making their appearance in the interior of 

 British Columbia before the snow has begun to thaw even from the roofs of the log huts. Their custom, on first 

 arriving, is to sit on the extreme tops of the sprays that project above the snow. The brilliant golden yellow, deck- 

 in" their breasts, and the rich browns on the back and wings, are in such vivid contrast with the intense white on 

 every side, that one is almost tempted to imagine that some magi's hand had conjured gorgeous blossoms on the leaf- 

 less sticks : until the mellow plaintive songs, pealing over the wintry waste, tells yon that life is there, with hope and 

 confidence in coming events. Leaves, flowers, grass, insects, all are missing, still the birds know they are sure to come ; 

 their instincts are true, and so they patiently await the change from bleak winter to genial spring, as joyons as if 

 they had not quitted the sunny south. 



ScoLECOPHAGUS OAEOLiNTJS (Mtill.). Rusty Blackbird. 



Dall noted the arrival of this widely-ranging bird at Nulato on May 20, where it was 

 abundant and tame, and he saw one nest commenced about the end of the month. The eggs 

 have been taken at Fort Yukon, while skins are in the National Museum collection from Sitka and 

 Port Kenai. It arrives in the British fur country at Great Bear Lake, latitude 65° north, by the 

 3d of May, and breeds throughout the northern extreme of the continental land, reaching the 

 farthest limit of the wooded region on the Lower Anderson and Mackenzie Eivers. In Northern 

 Alaska it reaches latitude 70°. On the Bering Sea and Arctic coast of this Territory from the 

 mouth of the Kuskoquim Ever the bird is a regular but not numerous summer resident wherever 

 trees and bashes are found reaching the vicinity of the sea-coast. 

 S. Mis. 156 22 



