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THE 00L0GIS1 



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any ray of light, neat or cold in their 

 interiors, except through the entrance 

 when that hole is unconcealed. It is 

 made compactly and seems well 

 adapted to withstand and resist the 

 changes of temperature and inclem- 

 ency of the weather and serve ad- 

 mirably to keep out the dampness, 

 which is a serious and often fatal fac- 

 tor in regard to incubation and young. 



Some authorities assert that the 

 number of sham nests built by a pair 

 of birds is from six to eight, but I 

 have never found more than six nests 

 belonging to one pair of birds, tne 

 usual number being three or four, oc- 

 casionally five and rarely six. These 

 sham nests have various other names 

 such as decoy, false and mock nests. 

 In England such nests are called 

 cock nests, under the belief that they 

 are constructed by the male birds, 

 but in the case of the species under 

 consideration, they are built by both 

 sexes. True, the female Long-bill 

 does little work on them after she has 

 commenced incubating, and none to 

 my knowledge, after the eggs have 

 hatched, yet they cannot be called 

 cock nests on account of her share 

 of work on them. Sham or false 

 nest is a better word. Decoy is still 

 better. They mislead many ignorant 

 people, who examine them in the 

 belief that they are worthless and de- 

 serted. The majority of such nests 

 that I have examined have been un- 

 lined, but otherwise were as well 

 built as the lined ones. Why, I have 

 never been able to find out, nor have 

 I ever been able to ascertain the 

 sense of these sham nests, nor has 

 any person satisfactorily answered 

 this question regarding their uses. 



Realizing how imperfect is our 

 knowledge of the incubation of the 

 eggs of this species, I endeavored to 

 ascertain the length of time necessary 

 for the eggs to hatch, but have only 



been partially successful, due to the 

 desertion of nests that had been un- 

 der observation and other causes. 



The period of incubation is in a 

 measure controlled by the weather, 

 for during a cold or rainy spell the 

 length of time required for eggs to 

 hatch was shorter than during contin- 

 ued warm or hot weather, when it 

 would be prolonged. 



The cause is obvious. It is perhaps, 

 needless to say, for during a cold 

 spell of inclement weather of several 

 days' duration, the bird is compelled 

 by instinct to sit and incubate her 

 eggs closely and oftener, hardly dar- 

 ing to leave them, on account of lia- 

 bility of exposing them to the cold, 

 which would chill and kill embryo. 

 The male takes his turn when the 

 female leaves to seek rest and food 

 During an excessive warm spell the 

 eggs do not require as much protec- 

 tion and are often left "uncovered" 

 for several days at a time, even when 

 incubation is highly advanced, as the 

 warmth will keep them from getting 

 chilled. The consequences of these 

 natural interferences of nature cause 

 the incubation to vary, warm weathr 

 prolonging and cold or inclement 

 weather shortening it. As near as I 

 have been able to ascertain, the 

 length of incubation has varied be- 

 tween ten and twelve and a half days. 

 The shorter time when the weather 

 was cold or inclement and the longer 

 when it was excessively hot, with 

 high humidity and very little rain. 



From these conclusions, incomplete 

 as they are, I infer that the weather 

 effect asserts its influence upon incu- 

 bation, which is an important factor 

 in regard to all species of birds, at 

 least all that I have studied. The re- 

 sults of my observations have 

 demonstrated that cold and inclement 

 weather will shorten incubation from 

 one to two days, and hot weather pro- 



