140 



THE OOLOGIST. 



mating now, and flying about in pairs. 

 Ground robins building nests. Young 

 robins flying about. 



May 14. — The blackbird uses wool 

 in making its nest, working it into 

 the framework but not using it for 

 lining; for lining it uses dried grass 

 and hair. It also uses dried grass 

 stalks and mud in building its nest. 



May 15. — A Baltimore oriole was at 

 work on a nest about 7 p. m. The 

 nest is out at the end of a large limb 

 in a maple tree. 



May 17. The brown thrasher lays 

 its eggs early in the forenoon, al- 

 ways. Rain-crows, or yellow-billed 

 cuckoo, in the woods, but have seen 

 none in town yet. 



Pound a kinkfisher's nest along the 

 creek, in a high clay bank 12 or 14 

 feet high. The nest was in a hole 

 about a foot below the surface of the 

 ground. The hole was about four 

 inches wide and three inches high, 

 and ran back nearly four feet, where 

 it opened out into a cavity about ten 

 inches wide and as many high, some- 

 what oven-like. The' eggs, six in num- 

 ber, were laid on a bed of fish scales 

 and pieces of shells of crayfish. The 

 eggs were white. The old birds never 

 came near while I was digging into 

 the nest. 



A pair of wrens are building a nest 

 on a window sash between the glass 

 and the blinds. They go in and out 

 through the shutters. 



P. M. SILLOWAY, 



Lewistown, Mont. 



Publications Received. 



Mr. E. H. Short: — 



I am informed by good authority 

 that after a severe wind storm, a 

 man picked up two half bushels and 

 one tub full of English Sparrows that 

 had perished in the storm. They were 

 under trees. A telephone wire was 

 near. 



Is this not comparable to some fish 

 stories? Only this is a true story. 

 C. W. PRIER. 



Penn. Div. Zoology Bull., No. 3, Vol. 

 IV. 



"The Warbler," Vol. II, No. 3. 



"The Amateur Naturalist," Vol. Ill, 

 Nos. 4 and 5. 



Me. Orn. Soc. Journal, Vol. VIII, 

 No. 3. 



"The Condor," Vol. VIII, No. 5. 



The Bobolink Article. 



The best article on the Bobolink 

 conforming with our conditions given 

 in the last Oologist was submitted by 

 C. S. Prescott, of Lynn, Mass., who 

 receives a free 3-year subscription. 

 The article with half-tone and editor- 

 ial comments will appear in October 

 issue. We want similar articles on 

 Brewer's Blackbird, Say's Phoebe and 

 Mourning Dove. Who will submit 

 manuscript? See conditions in Aug. 

 '06, "Oologist." 



Mr. E. H. Short: — 



Can you tell me the approximate 

 average size of the eggs of the com- 

 mon Song Sparrow? 



Yours truly, 



F. A. H. 

 Ans. .75X.59— [AW.] 



