66 



THE COLLECTORS' MONTHLY. 



took posession of the hat and built a [ 

 newt therein. Although the scare-crow 

 may frighten some birds, it surely does 

 not the Wren, and no doubt but what 

 Mr. and Mrs. Wren think that everything 

 has been fixed for their special con- 

 venience. Some years ago (1880) a flour 

 sack had been hanging on one of our 

 fences for several days, and on going to 

 get it, a Wreu flew hastly out and lit on 

 the fence. Looking into the bag the 

 nest was discovered safelv holding a 

 single egg, but while my attention was 

 thus drawn the other Wren arrived, and 

 set up as loud a noise as his mate. I 

 think Mr. Wren was trying hard to tell 

 me to mind my own business, while his 

 equally angry mate disputed my owner- 

 ship of the bag and abused me for interfer- 

 ing with their domestic affiars. Not far 

 from where I am writing, an over-shoe 

 hangs on a picket of a neighbors fence 

 and probably I should never have notic- 

 ed it had it not been utilized as a recepta- 

 cle for a Wren's nest, in which a family 

 of six were succesfully raised. Other just 

 as curious places where I have known 

 these birds to nest, was once in the skull 

 of a horse, another in a cast away rubber, 

 another time in an old shoe. 



Robins build their houses occasionally 

 in quaint situations, one that I know of 

 is on the under frame-work of an iron 

 railroad bridge, where I have seen as 

 many as five nests at one time, once I 

 found a nest with four eggs hardly three 

 feet under the rails, and as far as I have 

 been able to learn the whole set is always 

 hatched, the continual passing over of 

 passenger trains and the jarring of 

 heavily loaded frieghts seeming not to 

 effect the eggs in the least. Several 

 wagon bridges in this locality are each 

 year sought out by as many pairs of 

 Robins and Pewees as nest building sites. 

 This past spring a pair of Cuckoos built 



a nest in a shrub almost under a window 

 of a farm house, about two miles distant 

 from my home. As these birds are of a 

 shy and retireing nature, it is odd that 

 such a place was selected. 



Last spring a friend foundaBaltamore 

 Orioles nest hanging from a bush on a 

 hillside, the nest not being more than 

 three feet from the ground. This sam e 

 friend found a nest full of Kingbirds, in a 

 broken branch which had drifted down 

 and caught in the middle of the river. 

 Down by the river in an old willow tree 

 is a deserted Robin's nest which was 

 patched up a little last year, and occupi- 

 ed by a pair of Song Sparrows and after- 

 wards became the home of four youna; 

 birds. 



An empty tin can lying on its side on 

 the banks of a ditch in my vicinity has 

 been used as a nesting abode of a pair of 

 Field Sparrows and at the time was ob- 

 served by many curious eyes. 



Harry E. Miller. 



For the Collectors' Monthly. 



292. Oreortyx pictus. 

 Mountain Partridge. 



Hab. Pacific Coast, 0rec4ON. 



This is another of Oregons beautiful 

 game birds. Its head is adorned with 

 two arrow like plumes which the bird can 

 erect or depress at pleasure. The bird is 

 much larger then the Bob-white, and 

 swifter of flight, being a hard bird to 

 shoot upon the wing. 1 have found it 

 breeding on the foot hills and mountains 

 of the cascade range -and also in the 

 coast range. The bird is not very 

 abundant, having been killed in large 

 numbers the past few years. 



Their nesting site is generally selected 

 in a clearing or opening in a wood or 

 placed just at the edge of the timber. 



It is a slight depression in the ground 



