Nesting Under Difficulties, i?, 



tliej 

 at If 

 the 

 of J 

 , five 

 wer 

 sma 

 was 

 side 

 one- 

 and 

 two 



On May I7th, 1886, I <liscoveretl a pair of 

 Blue-gray Gnat catchers building a. nest ou a 

 horizontal limK ^..i, 



182 



ORNITE 



as a nesting site the eggs are no easy matter to 

 get. The nests are placed in sweet gum, birch, 

 oak, willow, and pine mostly, and range from 

 seven to fifty feet in height, the highest nests 

 being those in pines and the lowest ones those 

 in the gums. 



The birds take about two weeks to build the 

 nest and lay the four or five eggs which consti- 

 tute a set; but after a pair has been robbed 

 once, they take much less time over the sec- 

 ond and later nests. When undisturbed I do 

 not tliink they raise more than one brood in a 

 season. The labors of incubation are shared 

 by both sexes, though I don't know whether 

 the male bird takes his full share of the work, 

 or whether he only goes on the nost once in a 

 while, to show how good he is. 



From one pair of birds we took four sets this 

 year, and as a matter of curiosity I give the 

 history thereof : _ I 



April 12, 1889. Birds started building mi 

 fork of sweet-gum, eight feet high. ; 

 April 18. Birds started on the nost again 

 . after doing nothing for nearly a week of cold 

 weather. i 

 May 2. Took set of four eggs from nest, t 

 Birds found building next day in another 

 sweet-gum, nine feet high this time. 



May 14. Took set of four from second nest. 

 Birds started again next day in a third sweet- 

 gum, and put the nest a little higher (twelve 

 feet.) 



May 24. Took set of four from third nest. 

 Birds started building again in a fourth sweet- 

 gum. Nest again twelve feet high. 



June 1. Xest had three eggs in. Looked 

 later on and it had only two. 



June 3. Took set of three from third nest. 

 Some days after, the birds started on their fifth 

 nest, choosing a pine limb some forty feet high 

 and putting the nest a long way from the 

 trunk and so we concluded to let the bird 

 hatch'. 



My Two Pets. 



It was a beautiful mori 



L and myself staffed o 



view of making a ne\V 

 carefully located our 

 previous, and judged 

 harvest. A few min 



fg in May when 

 with the distinct 

 faintance. We had 

 fination several days 

 ^t it was time for the 

 'alk brought us to 



the outskirts of the 6ity. Xt the forks of the 

 roads, in a small pine tre^ particularly ex- 

 posed to the view of all who passed, was a 



one 

 aide 



Bay State Qol?'^^ 



The Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. By J. W. Jacobs. Ibid., No. 

 88, pp. 46-47.— Nesting habits. 



Ank.Vll. Jan. 

 1890. p. V/. 



