ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES FROM THE WEST. 273 
were such as from their general known distribution would be ex- 
pected here. Neither the bluebird nor the meadow lark was 
observed, but the kingfisher and golden-shafted flicker were both 
occasional, one 
In conclusion, some peculiarities in the nesting habits of some 
of the birds observed in Kansas are worthy of notice. A nest 
of the purple grackle was found in an old woodpecker’s hole. 
Although this is the only instance of the kind I have as yet ob- 
served, my friend Mr. Wm. Brewster, of Cambridge, informs me 
that he has repeatedly found the same species breeding in wood- 
peckers’ holes in Maine! The Carolina dove generally bred at 
Port Hays in trees, as at the eastward ; sometimes, however, lay- 
ing in an old grackle’s nest instead of being at the trouble of build- 
ingone. One nest, however, was found on the ground, although 
bushes were growing but a few yards distant. More to the west- 
ward I learned that this bird—more common here than at the east 
—always breeds on the ground, as it is of course compelled to do, 
owing to the absence of either trees or bushes. Meeting with this 
bird in pairs in the breeding season far out on the Plains, some- 
times ten miles from the nearest trees, led me to believe that 
this would be its habit, even before I had seen positive evidence 
that such was the case. s 
Other interesting instances of the modification of nesting habits 
may well be mentioned in this connection. The brown thrush is 
well known to vary the location of its nest according to the nature 
of the soil, nesting on the ground in sandy districts, and in bushes 
where the soil is damp or clayey. Among the clayey bluffs at 
Leavenworth we found it nesting in bushes; at Topeka on the 
ground; at Fort Hays in bushes, when breeding on high ground, 
and in trees, ten to fifteen or twenty feet from the ground, when 
syi in the timber along Big Creek (a considerable stream on 
$ ort Hays is situated). We had an ample explanation of 
E latter departure from its usual habits during our stay at Fort 
“Ys: Big Creek, flowing in a deep narrow bed, is subject, in 
Pear hes sudden freshets, resulting from occasional heavy rain- 
it rising sometimes ten or a dozen feet in a single night, as 
v oe : 
a nee witnessed. The trees growing chiefly along the bed of 
unde: » the water at such times submerges not only the scanty 
Ri ah; but all the lower branches of the trees. Hence the 
paia Sh, as well as all the other birds, appears here always to 
- NATURALIST, VOL. VI. 18 
