120 



THE OOLOGIST. 



hang by the bark, there was danger 

 of it swinging clear back to me and 

 knocking me off; so I sawed very care- 

 fully until it began to go down gently. 

 Although the limb broke off clean, and 

 the nest hung top side down, hardly a 

 leaflet or twig of the lining was dis- 

 turbed. Slowly we let it down. 



At last it was safely landed. De- 

 scending exultingly and hastily load- 

 ing ourselves with our plunder, we 

 started home. Elmer took the lead 

 with the two guns, the rope, the saw, 

 and the game sack in which were the 

 two birds. I followed with the two 

 eggs in one hand, the big limb over 

 my shoulder, holding it with the other 

 hand. Thus we come home triumph- 

 antly. 



The group is now mounted and in 

 the Baker University museum, Prof. 

 Monahan having done a very fine piece 

 of work in preparing them. The pho- 

 tographs which I took of the nest with 

 the mounted birds, and eggs, give 

 some idea of the appearance. 



ARTHUR BRIDWELL, 



Baldwin, Kan. 



Nesting of Bicknell's Thrush. 



Knowing that Bicknell's Thrush 

 (Hylocichla aliciae bicknelli) breeds 

 on a few small islands off the south- 

 western end of Nova Scotia, I sent Mr. 

 H. F. Tufts to collect a few sets. He 

 was fortunate enough to find three 

 sets. The first was taken June 13, 

 1907, with three fresh eggs with the 

 parent bird in a thick top of a large 

 spruce, 25 feet from the ground. The 

 nest was made of dead grasses, bits of 

 decayed wood, twigs and moss and 

 was lined with fine dead grass. Set 

 No, 2 was taken on the same day 

 (June 13). The nest was placed in a 

 small Fir about 15 feet from the 

 ground and close to the trunk. It was 

 composed of dead grasses', moss and 



small twigs and lined with fine dead 

 grasses. The third set was taken June 

 14. The eggs were fresh. The nest 

 was situated in the top of a dead Fir 

 sapling, among mossy twigs. It was 

 made of decayed wood bits, grasses 

 and moss, and was lined with fine 

 dried grass. Three eggs seem to be a 

 full set. 



In his letter to me, Mr. Tufts says: 

 "I reached Mud Island on June 7, 

 where I found almost no thrushes, so 

 the next day I went to Seal Island. 

 Here on the 10th, I found two nests of 

 Bicknell's Thrush, each With one egg, 

 which I took on the 13th/ with three 

 eggs each, which seems to be the full 

 complement. 



"On the 11th I discovered another 

 nest with one egg which I took on the 

 14th with three eggs. I also discov- 

 ered two more nests building and one 

 completed, none of which contained 

 eggs. However, it was necessary for 

 me to leave the island, having already 

 over-stepped my time limit by two 

 days and having incurred the extra 

 expense of a useless return trip of the 

 man, hired to come for me from main- 

 land. No regular boat goes to the 

 islands after June 1, when the lobster 

 season closes., 



"Mr. Crowell and family, who own 

 the island, with whom every visitor 

 must stay and from whom permission 

 to collect anything must be had, are 

 ardent bird lovers and protectors, be- 

 ing members of the Audubon Society; 

 and it was only with considerable urg- 

 ing on my part that I was granted lib- 

 erty to collect a few sets. According 

 to Mr. Crowell the Thrushes are de- 

 creasing in numbers, and especially 

 during the past two or three years; so 

 he is making every effort to discour- 

 age the killing of the birds or the tak- 

 ing of their eggs." 



"Tre nest is the most difficult to 

 find of any small bird occurring in 

 equal numbers on a given area. The 



