October, 1881.] 
AND OOLOGIST. 
59 
Snow-bird 
NESTING IN NEW YORK STATE. 
On the 23d ot last April, while out hunt¬ 
ing, I saw a bird with its mouth filled with 
grass alight on an old brush pile at a short 
distance from where I stood. I noticed it 
was a Junco hyemails. After flitting about 
the brush pile for some time, appearing to 
be uneasy about my presence, it dodged in¬ 
to a small hole on a hillside which was 
nearly concealed by some large leaves over¬ 
hanging it. 
The bird remained inside four or five 
minutes when it came out very shyly, and 
flew some eight or ten rods away, where it 
was joined by its mate, when they both flew 
away. In about twenty minutes they re¬ 
turned, one having grass as when I first saw 
it; the other, which carried nothing, 
stopped at some distance from the nest. 
After going through about the same ma¬ 
noeuvres as before, they again flew away. 
On examination I found this hole to be 
about eight inches deep. At the mouth it 
was about three inches in diameter, but it 
was considerable larger at the back part. 
In this was deposited quite a quantity of 
dead grass. I visited the place again on 
the 25th, and found the nest completed but 
no eggs. From the 25th of April until the 
ist of May I found nothing to indicate 
that the bird had been near the nest since 
its completion, although I visited it daily. 
May ist, it contained one egg, and four 
on May 4th, but no other signs of the bird, 
and the eggs were cold. On May 5 th the 
eggs were warm, but no bird to be seen. 
On May 6th I found her on the nest, but 
she immediately flew away. On my taking 
the nest from the hole she with her mate 
made their appearance, but kept at some 
distance away On shooting the lighter 
colored one—which was the one that made 
the nest—I found it to be the female. The 
nest was composed of dead grass, . which 
became of a finer quality from without in¬ 
ward, and very smoothly lined with hair. 
The nest measured internally one and 
three-fourths inches in diameter by one and 
one half inches in depth. 
The fresh eggs are in ground color of a 
dirty white irregularly spotted over with two 
shades of lavender brown. At the larger 
end these spots become so numerous as to 
form one complete mass or blotch. In two 
examples these spots or blotches formed a 
complete ring about half way between the 
apex and the greater diameter, while in the 
other two the entire end is covered over 
with these blotches, with here and there an 
irregular streak of dark brown. 
The eggs measured respectively, .75X.50, 
.76X.56, .78X.57, .80X.28. — J. A. Dakin, 
Tu lly, N. V. 
Virginia Rail. —Previous to the season' 
of 1880 I supposed that the Rallus virgin- 
anus bred in fresh marshes only, such be¬ 
ing the statement made in every biography 
I had read. On the north end of Shelter 
Island is a small creek and at the head of 
which is a small marsh which is everflowed 
with salt water during easterly storms. 
On June 28th, 1880, a small boy had oc¬ 
casion to cross this marsh, and on going 
through a patch of tall coarse grass (known 
here as thatch grass) he flushed a Rail from 
her nest, which he left undisturbed while 
he went for a companion with a gun, when 
they secured the female and her nest con¬ 
taining eight eggs, which were brought to 
me with the bird. I at once identified it as 
the Virginia Rail. The nest was merely a 
heap of dead marsh grass and a few leaves, 
all loosely put together. Incubation was 
well advanced in seven of the eggs, while 
one was fresh. 
Another brood must have been raised in 
the same marsh this year, as a young bird 
was caught near there- Would like to 
know if the nesting of this Rail in salt 
water marshes has been observed by others. 
— M. B. Griffing, Shelter Isla?ul. 
Subscriptions to the Oologist are always 
in order, but can only be taken for the 
current volume. 
