October, 1881.] 
AND 00LOG 1ST, 
63 
from the ground, on the bank of a creek. 
The female was on the nest and did not 
offer to leave until I got close to the nest. 
While taking the nest she flew around me 
and called her mate with a sharp note— 
peep, peep. '• his nest, like the last taken, 
was made of fine dry grass and bits of dead 
leaves, and lined with fire fibrous roots. 
Size of nest: outside, three by four inches; 
inside, one and one-half by two inches. I 
have taken two other nests, one on June j 
2ist, and one on June 25th, iSfo. I am 
the only one who has found the nests here 
the past two seasons. They are all through 
breeding and leave for the south about the 
last of .August.— IV. Otto Em. rson, Cal. 
Pintail Duck. 
ITS .NEST AND EGGS. 
The following is a description of a nest 
and set of eggs of this duck {Dajila acuta) 
collected in Will, Illinois, May loth, 1877. 
The female was frightened from the nesj 
by my approach, otherwise I should not 
have found tlie nest, having passed and re¬ 
passed it several times on the previous day. 
It was built in a hummock of grass in a 
low wet pasture near a brook and several 
sloughes, was quite near to the road, and 
almost in the path used by children in go¬ 
ing to and from school, and was first found 
by one of them who informed me of the 
fact 
A hollow in the centre of the hummock 
was lined with dry grass and weeds, form¬ 
ing the nest, which was thickly lined with 
down. I succeeded in getting the nest out 
whole and the dimensions below were 
taken soon after reaching home : 
Depth, outside, four and one half inches; 
depth, inside, three inches. Outside diam¬ 
eter, nine inches; inside diameter, five inch¬ 
es. The eggs were eleven in number, and 
were nearly hatched, the embryos being with 
difficulty extracted through a half inch hole, 
three being broken in cleaning. The eggs 
vary but little in size, the largest being 
25-16 XI 9-16 inches, and the smallest 2 3-16- 
XI 9-16 inches, and 2 1-4x1 1-2. The col¬ 
or is a diity white with a tinge of greenish 
olive—at least that is the nearest I can come 
to describing it. 
I’he down in the nest seems to be placed 
on the sides, there being but little on the 
bottom. The ducks are (juite plenty in 
that vicinity during the spring and fall mi¬ 
grations—yZ^. H. Eaton., iVolurn, Mass 
-- 
Shooting Birds with Water. —Query: 
I-' it safe to shoot birds with water to get 
them witliout injuring them ? Say put a 
small load of powder with cut wad and tal¬ 
low on it to keep the dampness from the 
powder. Then with water in a flask ready 
to pour in when needed to shoot with. Or 
is there any other fluid or liquid better 
adapted for the purpose. I use the word 
safe with regard to the person shooting.— 
V. M. Eiror, Charlestown, Va. 
-- 
Say's Pewee (Savornis sayl) is not a ~ 
handsome bird, being in many respects as 
homely as any in the mountains. Its drab 
color and lo.ase feathers give it a poverty- 
stricken appearance, though the\oung ones 
are handsome enough. The female lays 
four white eggs, and sometimes hatches out 
two broods in a season. A jiair of these 
birds have had a nest on the porch of the 
commanding officer’s qu.irterr at Fort 1 ). A. 
Russel, Wyoming,, since the year 1875. 
Every season, early in April, a pair of Say’s 
Pewees make their appearance, and flying 
about for a few days, commence making 
repairs on their nest, which is located on 
the top of one of the pillars. Never hav¬ 
ing been disturbed in any way, they are 
quite tame and attend to their business, 
paying very little attention to the human 
beings that sometimes swarm on the porch. 
The young ones, when they are able to fly 
a little, are the cutest little bunches of drab 
fluff that ever was seen. They have a con¬ 
fident look about them that is amusing, and 
in a few days learn how to catch their own 
flies and take care of themselves. In gen¬ 
eral appearance they are very much like the 
Arkansas Flycatcher— Col A. G. Brackett 
in American Eield. 
