THE COLLECTORS' MONTHLY. 



.;: 



ground in marshy places, and is made of 

 grasses and weeds, and lined with, fealhers. 

 Eggs are cream color, eight to twelve in 

 number, and average about 2 : 1-2x1% 

 Inches in size. 



Sage Sparrow. 



(For The Collectors' Monthly. | 



This rare little Sparrow is quite plenti- 

 ful in Nevada among' the sage bush 

 deserts, staying with us all the year 

 round. It is a vtr'ry beautiful singer its 

 notes being almost similar to those of 

 the Mountain Song Sparrow. It com- 

 mences nesting about April 20th and 

 continues until June. 



It nests in the bushes, principally those 

 of the greasewood and rabbit brush, it 

 very rarely nests in the sage on account 

 of the strong smell of the sage in the 

 spring. It ocassionally uses the ground 

 for a nesting place cunningly concealing 

 its nest among the roots of some large 

 bush. The nest is never built very high 

 up, have never seen any over 2 feet from 

 the ground, and is composed of very fine 

 grass, strips of bark and lined with fine 

 pieces of bark and horse hair. It is very 

 small and compact. 



The eggs are slightly oval in shape, of 

 a very light greenish hue specked nil over 

 with fine spots of reddish brown. Around 

 the large end is a ring of larger spots of 

 a darker brown. The eggs are generally 

 3 in number, sometimes 4 but never more. 

 There is a great diversity in size, but the 

 general average is .80x.60. 



The nest is very hard to find, as it is 

 generally very carefully concealed. Al- 

 though very plentiful around here every 

 spring, lam never able to discover but a 

 very few sets, and those only by careful 

 looking and following the bird. Just 

 about sundown is the best time to look as 

 the female is always on the nest then, and 

 will fly when you are close to the nest. 



but you bave to in- very close bef< 



will move They are very retiring never 



nesting dose to any house, but preferring 



some small ravine or large plain farfrom 

 the haunts of man. I found one aesl 

 however this season placed in a bush 

 close beside the railroad track. 



On July LJHth of this year I was return- 

 ing from a fishing trip to the river and 

 in crossing a large sage bush Hat I flush- 

 ed a. female Sage Sparrow from a nest 

 containing 3 fresh eggs. Can any West- 

 ern reader give any later nesting of this 

 Sparrow? 



\- K. Christie. 



live Patch, Nev. 



Scraps from my Note Book. 



Yellow Shafted Flk kii:. 



(For The Collectors' Monthly.) 



The capacity which this bird has for 

 laying eggs seems almost unlimited. I 

 do not wish to enter my story as in a 

 contest, for there are others who have 

 reported a larger number of eggs taken 

 from a single pair, hut simply wish to 

 give the facts. 



May. 1890, I took a set of five perfectly 

 fresh eggs from an artificial cavity in a 

 dead hickory tree, about twenty-five feet 

 up. The next day, 1 noticed a pair of 

 Red-head Woodpeckers about the tree. 

 and causing quite a disturbance, as the 

 Flickers had not left. 



The new comers finally gained the 

 victory, and the Flickers, finding no better 

 place to go, went lo a shed near hy, and 

 contrived a nest down behind the rafters. 

 After the third day the female began lay- 

 ing again and an egg was taken from 

 that improvised nest for twenty-two 

 successive days. 1 got a set of five fresh 

 eggs from the hickory tree, which the Red 

 heads had laved, on the 7th of June. 



