I5U 
ORNITHOLOGIJST 
[Vol 7-N(). 19 
ally a flock rises, and mounting- high into 
the air, flies over the island to the east¬ 
ward. These are going North, and al¬ 
though the weather be very severe they 
will not return until the following Oct. or 
Nov. The feeding grounds of the Brant 
are few and far between : as near as I can 
learn, they make but one or two stops be¬ 
tween North Carolina and the Cajie. The 
next is off Prince Edwards Island. Thence 
they continue their flight, and Kane at the 
far North saw them going still farthei*. 
Their nests are as 3’et undiscovered. The 
slightlj' winged birds are caught and kept 
for decoys. Tliey soon take to eating 
corn; and often live many j’ears in confine¬ 
ment. '^^^len well taught the\’ seem to 
understand for what they are kept, and at 
the word nin into the basket in which thej’ 
are carried.— Fred. 7 ’. Jencks, Frov., K. I. 
Prairie Hen—Its Nesting Habits. 
Ill this localit\' the Prairie Hen {Ciqyid- 
onia oipido) commences laving the latter 
part of April. On Maj* 6th, this \'ear, I 
took two full sets of eggs consisting of 
thirteen and fifteen respectiveh’. The 
number of eggs laid Iw a single bird va¬ 
ries greatly. Nests containing all the way 
from eleven to twentj'-one. I have seen 
two nests this year containing twenty-one 
eggs each, and one containing eighteen. A 
friend of mine rejiorted finding one with 
twenty-four. Out of a large number of 
nests examined by me fourteen is the av¬ 
erage number. I have never measured the 
eggs, but they are small for the size of the 
bird, being about the size of the common 
crow. They are of a light brown color and 
sometimes the first two or three eggs laid 
are marked with small, yery dark brown 
spots. One set of thirteen in my collec¬ 
tion is all beautifullj’ marked in this way. 
Another set of eleven is almost pure white. 
The nest is alwaj’S placed on the grojind. 
A cavit}’ is hollowed out about three in¬ 
ches in depth and the bottom is covered 
with dry grass. Their favorite phue of 
nesting is in the prairie grass, which af- 
foi-ds an excellent place of concealment. I 
have sometimes found their nests on Fall 
plowing and in corn fields. The birds are 
very tame during the breeding season and 
will sit on the nest allowing a person to 
a2)proach within a few feet before leaving 
the nest, when as many others do, they 
will pretend to be crippled for the 2)urpose 
of alluring the intnider from their nest. 
They will even allow themselves to be caji- 
tured on the nest, when they will fight 
with fury. 
One of the most destnictive agents to 
the nests of these valuable birds is the 
jirairie fires. Most of the stockmen do not 
burn theii- hay ground until the middle of 
May, and so thousands of eggs iierish every 
3'ear. In passing over one of these burned 
fields I counted five nests containing sev- 
entv’-eight eggs, on about one acre of 
ground. The female in two instances was 
sitting a few feet from her nest on the 
ground. The jveriod of incubation is 
twent\'-one days. Prairie fires also destrov' 
large numbers of eggs of the Mountain Plo¬ 
ver and ^leadow Lark, which also breed 
here in large numbers. -Horace . 1 . Kline, 
Ve-da. Johnson Co., Xehruska. 
Field Glass. 
Having studied birds more or less for 
several years with the aid of a field or ma¬ 
rine glass, I proj)ose in a series of short 
articles to give mj' experience in using the 
same. Having never been a collector I 
shall have nothing to sav on this point. 
The most that I can hope to do will be to 
suggest a i)leasant and easy way for be¬ 
ginners to become actpiainted with most 
of the birds to be seen during any sc'ason, 
and to map out a course of study, which 
if somewhat out of the beaten rut. will be 
found (piite as ideasant as instructive. 
Peojde who have no wish, strictly speak¬ 
ing. to become ornithologists or oologists, 
do desire sometimes to become better ac- 
(piainted with our resident birds. To do 
