Petrified Nest and Eggs. 
While examining the collection of Dr. S. 
Woolverton of this city I was shown a pet- 
rified bird’s nest, containing two eggs, 
which was found in a cave near Woodstock, 
Ont., several years ago. It seemed to be 
formed of sticks, which outside were placed 
longitudinally, but in the cavity laid hori- 
zontally. Many were as much as five-eighths 
of an inch in diameter, but probably in- 
creased by their coating of lime precipi- 
tate. What had the appearance of moss 
was laid around the edges. The eggs, also 
petrified, lay near the centre of the nest, 
the larger end of one adjacent to the 
smaller end of the other. The external 
dimensions of the nest are 5X5 inches, 
the cavity being 3^ X 3 ; the eggs both in 
size and appearance resembling a chaparrel 
cock’s. The whole weighed about two 
pounds, all the interstices between the 
sticks having been filled with the carbon- 
ate, welding them into a homogeneous 
stony mass. As a whole, it greatly resem- 
bled the lava-like formation of stalactites 
generally. The species is unknown, but 
j the doctor thinks it belongs to a Pewee, 
the eggs being abnormally enlarged by the 
lime formation, as also the straws, which 
have the appearance of sticks. — G. S. 
Smith , London. 
Phoebe Bird— Pewee— (Sayornes Fuscus ) 
This intelligent and familar bird can be 
found all over New England wherever there 
is an open barn, barn cellar, bridge, or any 
kind of a dilapidated outhouse or even high 
rocks, on the face of which the nest may often 
be found built of moss and mud, with some 
hair for lining, and fastened firmly to the rock 
under some slight projection. I never found a 
nest on a continuous shelf in a rock, but often 
just above or below one. This is evidently 
done to avoid their four footed enemies that 
often pass over such runs and would destroy 
their eggs if they came in their way. There 
are some rocks where the remains of many 
nests can be found showing that they have in 
some way been destroyed, probably by time. 
They will occupy the same nest for years un- 
less they have good cause to desert it. About 
two years ago (April 16, ’82) we found a beauti- 
ful nest in a deserted New England farm 
house. It was sustained against a joist in 
what had been the dining room. We ques- 
tioned the owner about the nest. He stated 
that it had been there for twenty years undis- 
turbed, and they always got off two broods in 
a season. New England barns are usually 
built with the under beams hewn, and are 
more or less rounding, giving a shoulder on 
which the pbcebe builds its nest. In a barn 
cellar of this kind, at Eockville, Conn., we 
took two sets of four eggs; another party 
ifr/ kt 
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Curious Nesting Places. 
A few years ago a pair of Pewees built 
their nest on a brace under the guards of 
the steam ferry boat running between Port- 
land and Middletown, Conn., the boat mak- 
ing trips every ten minutes. They seemed 
to claim Middletown as their home, as they 
appeared to collect their building material 
on that side of the river. When the boat 
was on this side they would wait patiently, 
sitting on the piles until she came into the 
slip, although I have occasionally seen them 
fly out and meet the boat in the middle of 
the river. “John,” the veteran collector, 
(he has been on this ferry thirty years,) 
took quite an interest in them and did 
what I doubt he never did before — let any- 
thing cross on this boat without collecting 
the fare. The birds did well and we watched 
them until the young left the nest. 
W- W ■ 'Go-* , d>T. 
030 . ¥31 Bee. iftrZ . h. I&3 . 
' "did set with nest and four eggs. 
Ont. O.&Q. VII. Jun. 1889. p, air built a new nest and laid four 
♦ from which they took off four 
young. This was in 1878 when every pair we 
found laid but four eggs. During 1877 we 
took a nest from a slight shelf on a solitary 
rock which stood on the level ground in a 
wood. The nest was not over three feet from 
the ground and in plain sight of the road. 
Within a few hundred yards of this rock, at 
the head of Lake Snipsic, Rockville, Conn., is 
a bridge, the beams of which are not over 
four feet from the water, which is very turbu- 
lent in the spring time. The bridge is always 
in poor order and the dirt falls through and 
annoys the pheebe’s that nest underneath, and 
yet they breed there yearly unless disturbed 
too much. Even then they will return an- 
other year. Under this bridge, in 1878 (June 
11) we took a set of four; May 14, 1879, we 
took a set of five; May 15, 1880, we took a set 
of five, which proved to be slightly spotted. 
This wasfhe only spotted set we have taken, 
though they are not unusual. Under this 
bridge, which is a fair type of similar bridges, 
are to be found the remains of many nests. 
In 1879 we climbed into a window of a recent- 
ly abandoned dwelling. In one of the bed 
rooms the plaster was starting, and on this 
slight shelf a beautiful mossy nest was fast- 
I ened, and in which was the usual number (for 
that year) of five white eggs. 
usual, as the birds become remarkably tame 
during the breeding season. 
The wood pewee is a near relative of the 
phrabe bird, but it always builds in the woods 
and on a small horizontal limb, and lays three 
beautifully marked eggs. We have heard of five 
eggs being la^d, but have no positive evidence 
of the fact. j os . M. Wade. 
and invited our companion to step on our 
back, which he did, and examined the nest 
with perfect ease, which was newly built and 
lined with a few horse hairs as usual, and 
ready for the eg*s. This was a wild rocky 
scene, the rocks mostly covered with masses 
I of ferns. We have described the above typi- 
cal resting places, but we have found them in 
every conceivable position except on trees, 
shrubs, or on the ground. Wherever a giant 
of the forest has been uprooted, turning the 
roots upward, there a phoebe’s nest will be 
I found ; under bridges, on the beams, or on the 
walls or abutments, no matter if the bridge is 
little more than a culvert, on every conceiv- 
able kind of outbuilding, inside and outside, 
even under piazza’s of buildings, where the 
occupants sit wi+hin a few feet of them, we 
never saw a nest exposed to the rain from 
above. They are everywhere a favorite and 
the farmer that will use his old revolutionary 
fire arms on its relative, the king bird, will 
protect the phoebe bird. In a few weeks more 
the familiar notes of this bird will be heard 
l all over New England. Pewee, pewee, pewee, 
will be heard on every side, but not until the 
i weather is warm enough to produce flies, on 
| which this bird lives entirely, ranking it 
among the positive migrants. Returning 
once more to the nesting habits of this bird, 
we would state that in 1882 we found a nest of 
this bird far up the culvert below the waste- 
gate of the Norwich, Conn., water works. 
During that same year “ J. M. W.,” of Norwich, 
found a nest in the hollow of an apple tree. 
He also reports finding six eggs on three dif- 
ferent occasions, the lastest being on July 10. 
Our earliest record is May 14, 1879, a set of 
five; May 15, 1880, a set of five from the 
bridge at the head of Snipsic lake, that were 
spotted. J. A. Brand informed us that he 
once found a nest and set of eggs on the limb 
of an old white oak tree. The tree was about 
twenty inches in diameter, and the horizontal 
limb on which the nest was Jound was about 
eight inches in diameter. The limb projected 
about sixteen feet from the body of the tree 
and the nest was about 25 feet above the 
water. He also reports four nests at one 
time on the ' beams in a small old saw mill 
with up and down saw. This is not at all un- 
