Nebraska Bird Review 
31 
COWBIRD PARASITISM ON 
MOURNING DOVE. In conjunction 
with my survey of the blood parasites 
of the Mourning Dove {J^enaidura 
macroura) in Lancaster County, I 
made observations on 25 nests 
from April 21 to May 25, 1967 and 
on 20 nests from May 15 to August 
15, 1968. Of the 45 nests, one nest, 
first observed on June 5, 1968, was 
parasitized by the Brown-headed 
Cowbird (Molothrus ater). This nest 
contained two Cowbird eggs and 
two Dove eggs on June 5, 7, 9, and 
14, but was empty on June 17. An 
adult Mourning Dove was on the 
nest each time the nest was check¬ 
ed, except for June 17 when the 
nest was empty. 
H. Friedman (1963. Host Rela¬ 
tions of the Parasitic Cowbirds. 
U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull 233:46-47) 
states that only six records of the 
Brown-headed Cowbird parasitiz¬ 
ing Mourning Doves were known 
to him. He further states that it is 
unlikely that the Cowbird nestling 
would be successful as the feeding 
behavior of the Dove requires the 
nestling to stick its head into the 
open mouth of the adult, which the 
Cowbird nestling usually does not 
do. 
The success of this nest is not 
known because the eggs disappear¬ 
ed before hatching. It is unlikely 
that a predator destroyed the nest, 
for there were no signs of a strug¬ 
gle, such as I have seen in other 
cases of premature nest termina¬ 
tion. 
—Ellis C. Greiner, Lincoln 
PARASITIC JAEGER, RATHER 
THAN SKUA. The bird reported as 
a Skua in The Nebraska Bird Re¬ 
view, October 1968 (36:76), was 
identified as a Parasitic Jaeger by 
Dr. James Tate at the Museum of 
the University of Nebraska. It is 
now in the Museum under No. ZM- 
12309. 
The bird was collected August 24, 
1968, south of Hay Springs, ap¬ 
parently hurt. It was unable to fly. 
Dr. Tate stated that it did show 
injury when he skinned it out. 
According to the Revised Check¬ 
list of Nebraska Birds, 1958, only 
one other specimen has been col¬ 
lected in Nebraska and that was by 
August Eiche in 1898. 
—Doris Gates, Chadron 
OLDSQUAW. Since the note on the 
occurrence of an Oldsquaw (Clan- 
giila hyemalis) at North Platte ap¬ 
peared in The Nebraska Bird Review 
(Tate and Tate 1965: 49-50) two 
more specimens of this northern duck 
have been cataloged into the Univer¬ 
sity of Nebraska State Museum 
(UNSM) collection. 
A mounted male in winter plum¬ 
age, with white areas across the 
shoulders (UNSM 12301) bears a 
museum label which indicates the 
bird was collected 9 October 1943 
by Mrs. H. D. Schoettger at Fonte- 
nelle Forest, Dodge County, Nebras¬ 
ka. It bears the field number 5-10- 
9-43, but there is no indication whose 
field number this was. The locality 
data are perplexing. Fontenelle For¬ 
est is in Sarpy County, south of 
Omaha. The village of Fontanelle 
(sic) is in Washington County, 
across the Elkhorn River from Dodge 
County. Unless there is a woods in 
the vicinity of Fontanelle that is re¬ 
ferred to locally as Fontenelle For¬ 
est, I would be inclined to suspect 
that the label was miscopied and the 
word “Forest” interjected when the 
specimen was put in the museum col¬ 
lection. Thus I refer this specimen 
to Dodge County, west of Fontanelle, 
Washington County. 
A female, also in winter plumage, 
was bought on 11 October 1932 by 
Myron Swenk from a taxidermist 
(Karl Schwarz) who sold it beause 
the owner had not reclaimed it. The 
bird had been shot by William Falk 
of Omaha on 21 November 1931 in 
