THE COLLECTORS' MONTHLY. 



shades, and pale blue All the eggs wwe 

 fresh, and for t h in reason and the fad 

 that the majority of the nests contained 

 only one or two eggs, I think the breed- 

 ing season had just commenced and I hat 

 most of the sets were incomplete. One 

 pecularity that I noted was Hint in a 

 number of nests the eggs wereconiplctely 

 covered with grass and could only lie 

 found by feeling in the nest. Having ae- 

 cidently discovered an egg covered in 

 this manner 1 afterward found several 

 more. 1 have never seen anythingabout 

 this in any ornithological work, and 

 would like to hear from others on the 

 subject. Also a few Leach's Petrels were 

 found breeding on this island, but on 

 another island near by they were much 

 more abundant. On some parts of the 

 island the ground was literally honey- 

 combed by their burrows, These bur- 

 rows were usually from one to four feet 

 in length, and from three to twelve below 

 the surface of the ground, generally curv- 

 ing downward toward the extremity. 

 The nest consisted of a little fine grass 

 placed in the extremity of the burrow 

 which was somewhat enlarged. In some 

 cases however there was no sign of a 

 nest, the single egg being laid on the bare 

 dirt. The eggs were pure white with a 

 ring near the larger end, of pale pinkish 

 spots, and omitted a very nauseous odor. 

 Whenever an egg was found one of the 

 birds was found also, but sometimes a 

 bird was found where there was no egg. 

 Only about half of the nests contained 

 eggs, and I am inclined to think that 1 

 was early for this species as well as the 

 preceeding. Theeggs measured from .80 

 x 1 :24 to 1.00 x 1 :3(5 inches. There were 

 large flocks of Arctic Terns around this 

 island also, but only a few nests were 

 found. They were placed in the grass 

 near a hat rock or bare patch and were 

 merely a little hollow lined with a little 



dry grass. The egge were two or three 

 in number and measured from 1 :05 i 

 1 :25 to 1 :25 x 1 :80 inches. Their color 

 varied from a greenish t<, a brownish 

 drab, spotted with different shades of 

 brown and blue, usually thickest near 

 the largeer end of the egg. One nest of 

 the Black Guillemot was found, contain- 

 ing oneegg. This egg was fresh and of 

 an ashy white color marked with spots 

 and blotches of brown and black, thick- 

 est near the larger end. Also a aesl of 

 Seaside Finch was found containing four 

 fresh eggs, and several nests of Spotted 

 Sau d piper. 



Ki.mkk <;. Bennett. 



My Experience with the Am- 

 erican Keiuhtiirl. 



1 was much interested in the article on 

 American Redstart in Sept. No. of Col- 

 lectors' Monthly by G. A. M. and will 

 send some of my observations in hope 

 that they will interest a few at least. 

 They have become quite plenty since 

 1888, in this vicinity and 1 think through- 

 out Monroe Co. In 1889 I found bur 2 

 nests, in 1890 1 took 10 complete si - 

 about 20 singles and left many more. 

 The present year I only took 2 sets and 

 about G singles, but saw a great many 

 more nests. They arrive hereabout May 

 1st, to 13th, do not commence building 

 their nest before loth at the earlist and 

 many not before June 5th. The earliest 

 nest I ever found was on May 29th of 

 the present year consisting of 2 eggs of 

 Redstarts and 2 of Cowbirds. About 

 June 10th they will be in possession of 

 full sets in nearly every case. 



Many of the nests here are placed from 

 1 to 7 feet from the ground in the vertical 

 crotches of small bushes, though I have 

 found them scarce 3 feet from theground 

 1 found one 15 feet from ground iu top 



