THE OOLOGIST. 



75 



has his colony of Martins, therefore 

 nesting sites are easily found. These 

 kind hearted individuals usually pre- 

 pare boxes for their little feathered 

 friends to use, and under the protection 

 of such powerful guardians they flourish 

 in their haunts. The boxes are, as a 

 rule, so arranged that they supply nest- 

 ing places for from four to fifteen 

 pairs of birds. Apartments for six nests 

 make a good size, being neither too 

 small nor too large. In some sections 

 they nest in gourds strung on the limbs 

 of poles prepared to receive them ; the 

 limbs having been cut off about two 

 feet from the pole, a gourd is tied to 

 the end of each limb ; a pole usually 

 supports from five to twelve gourds. 

 With a small hole cut in the side to ad- 

 mit the birds, they seem to form excel- 

 lent nesting places. But, even at this 

 a few still adhere to the old custom 

 and build in the hollows of dead trees 

 or in cavities used on previous years by 

 flickers. The nest is not very neat, being 

 loosely thrown together in the bottom 

 of the cavity, and consisting of fine 

 roots, grasses, and leaves plucked from 

 living trees. One box, in which I not- 

 iced them at work building their nests, 

 was fitted with such large entrances to 

 the apartments that the birds saw fit to 

 fill the extra space with wet clay ; 

 which, when it became dry, reduced 

 the size of the entrance to suit the taste 

 of the bird. The eggs range in number 

 from four to six, rarely seven ; five and 

 six are the usual numbers, but some- 

 times only four are deposited. The 

 young leave the nest in the latter part 

 of June or early in July, and then, ac- 

 companied by the parent birds, they are 

 to be seen at all times flying around 

 over the meadows or skimming the 

 fields in search of food. By the middle 

 of August they begin to migrate south- 

 ward, gradually becoming less abundant 

 as the days pass hy, and disappearing 

 altogether in the early part of Septem- 

 ber. 



R. PEARCE SMITHWICK, 

 Norfolk, Virginia. 



This walling up the opening to nest- 

 ing cavity with clay to regulate size of 

 opening is a habitual trait of the Horn- 

 bill and Syrian Nuthatch, but I never 

 saw a record of this kind for any Noitn 

 American Bird. (Ed.) 



On the 26th of June, 1902, my little 

 son and I were taking a stroll in the 

 eastern suburbs of the city, when my 

 attention was attracted by the vocifer- 

 ous twittering of several birds on a 

 clump of low bushes in a field of timo- 

 thy across the street. At the first 

 glance I took them for Yellow-headed 

 Blackbirds, but on closer observation 

 they proved to be Bobolinks. They 

 were evidently nesting, but I did not 

 search for their nests, as the timothy 

 was ready to cut and the place a very 

 public one. A few days later I took 

 my binoculars and identified them be- 

 yond all question. The bushes were 

 only about fifty yards from the street 

 where electric cars, other vehicles, and 

 pedestrians were constantly passing, 

 but they seemed to have no fear, except 

 when I stopped to watch them, when 

 they flew to another part of the field. 

 There were at least two males. So far 

 as I know this is the only record for 

 Miami county. The Bobolink nests in 

 several of the counties of northern 

 Indiana, especially on Lake Michigan, 

 and has been seen in several neighbor- 

 ing counties, but in eleven years' resi- 

 dence this is my first record. Butler's 

 "Birds of Indiana" does not record it 

 from Miami county. 



W. H. SHEAK, 

 Peru, Ind. 



My train was delayed a day by a 

 washout in Southern Arizona, coming 

 back from New Orleans, and I took the 

 opportunity to do a little collecting 

 about Pantano, a railroad station on 

 S. P. line. A stream ran near, with 

 many mesquite trees and I also got 

 friendly, to my sorrow, with several 

 kinds of cacti. Located several nests 



