ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 
77 
Texas, and forms a most welcome contribution to our knowledge of the 
ornithology of that region. The list shows an unusual mingling of east- 
ern and western species, and, as would be naturally expected, a consider- 
able proportion of strictly southern forms. On the barren Staked Plain 
few birds were met with, and these mainly about water-holes ; along the 
timber-skirted streams, however, bird life was abundant. — J. A. A. 
Nest and Eggs of Townsend’s Flycatchek. — In July, 1876, while 
rambling with my brother over the mountains of Summit County, Colo- 
rado, it was my good fortune to find, at an altitude of about ten thousand 
feet, the nest of Townsend’s Flycatcher {Myiadestes townsendi), and as 
no description of its eggs has as yet appeared, perhaps the following may 
not be uninteresting : The nest was very loosely, and, externally, shabbily 
built of long dry grasses, straggling two feet or more below it. It was 
placed in the upper bank of a miner’s ditch (running from the Bear River, 
above Breckenridge, to the Gold Run and Buffalo Flat diggings), and was 
partly concealed by overhanging roots ; yet it was rendered so con- 
spicuous by the loose swaying material of w’'hich it was composed, as well 
as by that which had become attached to the overhanging roots during its 
construction, as to attract the eye of an experienced collector when yet some 
rods away. On nearing the nest the bird immediately took flight, and 
alighted on the topmost branch of the nearest pine. Resting uneasily here 
for half a minute, it then, in short, uncertain flights, worked its way down 
the mountain side and out of sight. Withdrawing to a convenient cover, 
we had only to wait a few moments for the bird to return, perch herself 
on a branch a few feet from the nest, peer anxiously into it, and then 
quickly resume her task of incubation. Moving cautiously along the 
bank above the ditch, we tried to capture the bird by placing a hat over 
the nest, but, miscalculating its location by a few inches, the bird eluded 
the stroke and made good her escape, as she did also on our second attempt 
to capture her. Again retreating to cover, we waited for half an hour for 
the bird to return, when suddenly we espied it flying from branch to 
branch, displaying by its restless motions more anxiety and suspicion than 
before, yet constantly working nearer its home, which it soon reached and 
settled quietly again to business. After the last unsuccessful attempt to 
catch the bird, a stick was placed on the bank directly over the nest, 
to mark its exact locality, and this time, moving with less haste and more 
caution, we gained the desired position, lay down on the bank, and taking 
a hat in each hand quickly covered the opening and secured the unfortu- 
nate bird, and also the opportunity of giving to ornithologists an authentic 
