THE OOLOGIST. ?&0&) 



123 



bits of moss in a green state, mingled 

 with bits of dry grass stems and tree 

 leaves, well bound together with spider 

 webs and cocoons. Inner part of nest 

 was fitted with many soft feathers of 

 different birds. Depth of nest one 

 and one-half inches, across the top 

 three by two and one-half inches, 

 height of nest in front where it lay on 

 the rock two and three-quarter inches, 

 being two inches only in the back. 

 The under part of the nest was built 

 up in front with a lot of dry sycamore 

 twigs of one to seven inches in length, 

 this acted as a support to the front of 

 the nest to level it up. The extreme 

 length of nest was nine inches, several 

 twigs were scattered all along the 

 ledge for two or more feet as though 

 the bird was undecided where to start 

 her nest proper. It was placed on a 

 slight shelf in a cleft in sandstone 

 rock, back fifty-one feet in a cave, en- 

 trance of cave only five feet from run- 

 ning stream. The cave was fifty feet 

 high at entrance and twenty feet high 

 at extreme end. The bluff where this 

 nest was located faced the north in a 

 gorge some two hundred feet deep 

 where the roaring creek rushed down 

 the mountains, and far above the 

 scraggly black oaks, reared their long 

 branches over the poison oak thickets 

 below. 



Description of eggs. A crystaline 

 white, having a slight polish marked 

 with fine cinnamon specks of one 

 shade, centered mostly in a ring 

 around larger end, numbers one, three 

 and four are more marked over the 

 whole egg than numbers two and five. 

 No under shell color is seen as in 

 many of the other wren's eggs. Eggs 

 measured by m. m. Five specimens 

 perfectly fresh. No* 1, 19 x 13 m. m.; 

 No. 2, 19 x 13 m. m.; No. 3, 20 x 14 

 m. m.; No. 4, 20 x 14 m. m.; No. 5, 

 18 x 13 m. m. Average of the five 

 eggs, 13 x 19 m. m. 



The Red-breasted Nuthatch. 



(Sitta canadensis.) 



In Eastern New York. 



I have noticed very little in regard 

 to this interesting species in the col- 

 umns of the Oologist and only one men- 

 tion of its breeding in New York (Mr. 

 Clarence N. Davis, in Oologist for June, 

 1904, mentions the finding of some 

 young nuthatches) has come before my 

 notice. Sets from New York are prob- 

 ably very rare and I consider myself 

 very fortunate in finding two nests of 

 this species during this spring. One 

 nest contained three eggs (showing 

 traces of blood upon being blown, and 

 consequently a full set, though few in 

 number) and I have not examined the 

 other nest as yet but hope to find a 

 fuller set. 



On April 23rd, while out walking in 

 a small woods near here, I heard a pair 

 of nuthatches calling and upon following 

 them, noticed one fly out of a small hole 

 in a poplar stump, about five feet above 

 the ground. I did not lose any time in 

 investigating that stump and was soon 

 looking into the nesting cavity. The 

 hole was excavated about an inch and I 

 quickly decamped, as I did not want the 

 birds to desert such a promising "bo- 

 nanza." The old birds were quite shy 

 but I easily identified the species by 

 its small size black stripe through the 

 eye, and reddish under parts. On May 

 7th, I again went down there, and was 

 pleased to find the hole so deeo. that 

 I could not see the bottom. On May 

 13th, I decided to go and investigate 

 my find and did so with the above men- 

 tioned result. The entrance to the nest 

 was about an inch and a quarter in di- 

 ameter and the hole was five and a half 

 inches deep. The wall of bark was so 

 thin that I could easily break it with my 

 thumb. At the base of the cavity, was 

 a large mass of bark strips, probably 

 from a poplar tree, which made quite 



