West Yarmouth, Mass.
1906
July 26
(No 2)
the middle of the open space was a sewer-shaped
hollow which I found measured 21 1/4 inches across by
3 inches in depth at the deepest place. This was the
center of the hollow to which the bottom sloped easily
from every side and at which lay the five eggs when
the nest (?) was first found. The great width of the
hollow makes it seem improbable that it could have been 
designed to serve as a nest of a bird no larger than a 
Flicker but it had every appearance of having been scraped 
out by some bird or beast. It was almost perfectly
round and also symmetrical and the sandy soil was 
heaped up around the edge in a slight but obvious
rim. There were no other hollows of any kind on the
sandy flat, which lay between the slightly marked 
wheel track and the bordering pines. The nest (?) was
about five feet from the newer nest. Will Stone gave 
me his two eggs and the ladies one of those that they
had taken. When I blew these three specimens (on August 2)
I found that they were addled and that the contents,
although liquid, filled scarce more than one half of the shell
of each. The shells of two of the eggs were discolored by
blackish stains but the third egg was not thus disfigured.
These conditions lead one to conclude that the eggs may
have been laid a month or more ago and perhaps 
as early as the middle of May. Two theories occur to 
me (1) That a Flicker having had her nest in a tree or house 
destroyed just as she was about to begin laying hurriedly
scooped a hollow in the sand & deposited her eggs there, soon
afterwards deserting (2) That some boy took the eggs from
a tree and arranged them in a bogus nest which he made
by the roadside hoping thereby to deceive some comrade of
chance passer by.