THE BAY STATE OOLOGIST. 



There is very little variation in the nest- 

 ing of the Bluebird. It prefers a Martin 

 box, but lacking this will take a natural 

 cavity in a tree, old woodpeckers' nests 

 and hollow fence posts. I put up a box 

 last spring • a Tutted I itmouse selected 

 one corner for its future home and com- 

 menced building. During the absence 

 of the Titmouse a pair of Bluebirds 

 jumped the claim, threw out the nest 

 materials of the original claimant and 

 commenced putting up their own cabin. 

 There was war for a week, one bird 

 throwing out the others nest but Siala 

 won at last and the Titmouse had to 

 take up quarters in another apartment. 

 The nest of the Bluebird in this county 

 is entirely dead "crabgrass" ; some- 

 times a few feathers are placed in the 

 lining, but the majority of nests are 

 built of grass throughout. Two broods 

 are raised, as fresh eggs can be found 

 from the middle of March to the middle 

 of May. Eggs, four to five in number. 

 Average measurement about .8ox.6o. 

 I found one set of five eggs of this spe- 

 cies that were pure white (though the 

 normal color is pale blue.) Another 

 set I found contained four eggs normal 

 color and size and one egg of a deep 

 blue color and measuring only .43X.31. 



[Mr.Singley also adds that the Mock- 

 ingbird raises two or three broods in a 

 season, as fresh eggs can be found 

 from the middle of April to the middle 

 of July. Ed.] 



(to be continued.) 



The White-breasted Nuthatch, 



BY J. W. JACOBS, WAYNESBORO, PA. 



The White-breasted Nuthatch, (Sit- 

 ta carolinensis) is rather common about 

 here. I had the good fortune this 

 season (1887) to find two fine sets of 

 eggs of it. I found the first nest on 

 April 24, from which I took eight fresh 

 eggs, rather pointed, and having an av- 

 erage measurement of .75X.51 inches. 



The eggs were white, with a roseate 

 tinge ; dotted chiefly at the larger end 

 with reddish spots. In some the spots 

 formed a ring around the larger end, 

 while on others the spots were scattered 

 all over the egg. 



The nest was placed in a hole, which 

 had been made by a squirrel in an oak 

 tree, forty-five feet from the ground. 

 I could see the eggs very plainly, but 

 owing to the position I had to take to 

 get at the nest, my hatchet made but 

 little progress, but in the course of an 

 hour I had the eggs safe in my collect- 

 ing box. 



The nest was composed of hair, wool 

 grass, lichens, green moss and fine strips 

 of bark ; lined with bits of wool and 

 fine sott hair. The old bird remained 

 motionless, with her head thrust out the 

 small entrance, until I was within a few 

 feet of her, when she flew to a neigh- 

 boring branch to join her mate in whole- 

 sale jabbering and scolding. 



My second nest was found about 

 April 26, of the same year, by seeing an 

 old bird fly to a natural cavity and enter 

 with some yellow substance in its 

 mouth : its mate soon followed with 

 some hair or wool. On climbing to 

 this nest I found that it had just been 

 started, as all there was in the cavity 

 was a few bits of hair and wool and nu- 

 merous small balls of mud or hard clay 

 about the size of grains of corn. 



I placed my head as close as possible 

 to the cavity, that I might identify all 

 its contents, and in doing so I moved 

 two dead "chunks" of wood which pro- 

 jected from the hole ; this caused me 

 to feel almost certain that I would be 

 disappointed when I called again. I 

 placed these back as well as I could 

 and hurried down that the old birds 

 might continue building. 



I made my second visit on May 7, 

 I could see from the ground that the 

 dead chunks were gone, and I wondered 

 if the old birds had deserted the cavity 

 altogether. Presently I heard a fam- 



