At length I heard a very faint "chip," and the female was peering at me from nearby saplings. She moved anxiously about, but the "chip" she uttered was so low and lifeless that I could scarcely hear it. Later four eggs constituted the nest complement, and the female began to incubate, but one morning when I visited the nest I found it empty and the birds nowhere to be seen. I never decided what happened to the eggs, but thus the nesting of this warbler that season ended disastrously, and I regretted that I had followed the advice of some well-meaning wiseacres in leaving the eggs for a later series of valuable observations upon the home life of these birds, which never materialized,-my birds had flown. 22. Red-winged Blackbird. The Red-winged Blackbird is very common throughout the Park, in the marshy ends of the lakes and ponds. On June 19 I examined three nests of the Red-winged Blackbird, in the swampy end of Little Long Pond, near the Guest House, all in shallow water among low sprouts and tufts of watergrass. One nest was in a small shrub of button-bush about two feet high. The nest was set in the upright stems, about a foot above the water, exposed above so that the observer could look down into it. It was made of coarse grass stems, lined with finer grasses, with good depth in the cavity; there were three eggs in this nest. Another nest was in the same kind of shrub growing against a tussock of swamp grass. The third nest was in a tuft swamp-grass. All the nests were made after the same plan of structure, and each nest on that day contained three eggs. The birds that day made no unusual commotion when the nests were visited, the females merely flying away with harsh cackling, and continuing to scold at a respectful distance, while the males containued their regular calls, songs, whistles, and flight movements. 23. Red-eyed Vireo.-On June 20 a nest of Red-eyed Vireo was found suspended from a fork of a chestnut sprout, the site being only about three feet from the ground, in the woods margin. The female was sitting on three incubated eggs. 24. Indigo Bunting. The Indigo Bunting is common in all parts of the Park, frequently the bushy areas of road margins, pond-shores, and open patches of shrubbery. On June 20 I examined a nest of Indigo Bunting, found by the anxious chirping of the parent birds when I was near the site of the nest. It was in sprouts, on the sloping side of a little ravine near the main Tuxedo drive. It was made on oblique or bending stems, about three feet from the ground. When first examined it contained young birds, and later I collected the nest after it had served its purpose in harboring the brood. The side was in a blackberry shrub, and the nest was really saddled on drooping stems. It was a bulky structure, made of coarse material, such as soft dead leaves, weedstems and grasses, woven into thick compact walls, with a lining of soft dried grasses of brownish hue. 25. Maryland Yellow-throat. - On June 24 a nest of Maryland Yellowthroat was examined in a small birchfern swamp near the Guest House. The site was in a clump of mixed sprouts of fern, dead birch, etc., about two feet from the ground. The nest was made of long dried grass-stems, large dead grass blades and fragments of dead leaves, with thick walls, deep cavity, and lined with fine dried grasses. One fresh egg was in the nest, and the female was sitting when disturbed. (To be continued.) The 2% of Failures. As I read the various articles that came out in THE OOLOGIST, ninetyeight per cent of which are stories of success, I often think of the fine sets I didn't get. Many an hour of close hard searching of the ground bordering meadows and boggy pastures, have I put in searching for a Jack Snipe, nest and eggs. But after more than thirtyfive years in the field all I have to show is a part of one egg shell, while a playmate and a boyhood friend of mine has found several nests and eggs of the Whip-poor-will and showed me exactly where and how they nested, I have never been able to find a set. A brother of mine has often found the eggs of the Night Hawk, but I have never been able to find a set. Then again I have found five or six sets of Killdeer and four of American Woodcock, while I know of persons who have never found of either for themselves. I have found several nests of the Prairie Hen but never could find one of the Ruffed Grouse or Bob-white. Yet many a farmer has told me of Grouse and Quail nests they have found. Another elusive nest to me is the Least Bittern. Screech Owls and White breasted Nuthatch are among my common finds, while many a collector would give a lot for just one set of each of their own find. Just recently I read an article of a party who has found but one Belted Kingfisher's nest, and then not eggs. Well that is the kind I found once at least but many is the set of eggs I have dug out too. Every now and then I used to find a tiny nest in the clover or June grass with four or five very small white eggs ́covered thickly with fine pink specks, but now for years I have been unable to find any. Another bird that has always eluded me with the nest is the Oven bird. On page 49 last col. lines 29-30-31-32 for face read phase. Geo. W. H. Vos Burgh. Columbus, Wis. Among the Birds of the Virginia Coast By B. R. Bales, M.D., Circleville, Ohio To one who lives inland, far from the sea, a trip to the coast with its thousands of breeding sea birds is a never-to-be-forgotten experience. The writer spent the month of June, 1919, upon an island off the coast of Virginia, and this article is a chronicle of the nests observed. The first day among the birds was spent upon a small crescent shaped island of sand, which for convenience we will call "Sandy Island." It is so slightly elevated above the sea level, that extra high tides sweep over it, and some years the whole population of young birds is destroyed. There was a large colony of Common Terns breeding here, the nests being scattered over an area of several miles. Very little work in nest building is done by this species,there is simply a hollow in the sand with a few bits of beach grass for a lining; some nests lacked even the few blades of grass. But very few complete sets of three eggs were seen on this date, (June 3rd), most of the nests containing but one or two eggs, although about twenty-five nests contained their full complement. A nest of the Oystercatcher containing three eggs with incubation far advanced was found on this date. The nest was simply a depression in the sand, sparingly lined with bits of sea shell. Upon our return to the island that was to be my base of operations, a nest of the Osprey containing two badly incubated eggs was discovered, fifty feet from the ground in a tall pine tree. The next day, our trim little motor boat "The Comet" took us to an adjoining county, to a large marsh in quest of Laughing Gull nests. It took a large amount of marsh wading in soft sticky mud, to find a few nests of this species containing full complements, as local sea faring men and fishermen systematically rob the gull nests, using the eggs for food. They visit the colony on alternate days, destroying the eggs in all nests containing more than one egg, so that on their regular visits they will be sure of fresh eggs. I was told that parties from the mainland often took whole boat loads of eggs and sold them for ten cents a dozen. At any rate they earned their money, for marsh wading is exceedingly hard work. Most of the Gull nests are built along the edges of the hundreds of winding creeks that traverse the marsh in all directions, until they form such a labyrinth that a novice is soon bewildered. If a crazy blind man were given a pencil and a piece of paper he could not draw a more complicated and meaningless map than a true chart of this marsh would be. The Gull nests are composed mainly of marsh grass and drift and are roughly conical in shape with a depression at the apex to contain the eggs. Of the large number of nests examined this day (June 4th), I doubt if there were more than twenty-five with full sets of three eggs each. A number of nests of Clapper Rail were examined with from eight to twelve eggs each, but most of them were on the point of hatching. A few scattered groups of Forster's Tern nests were found containing full sets. This Tern builds a much better nest than does its cousin, the Common Tern. The nests are almost a com plete miniature of Laughing Gull nests, though built of finer materials. All nests found were built upon convenient piles of drift. There was a large number of these birds about and at a latter date, I found the main colony of perhaps three hundred pairs, with the nests containing hatching eggs. The next day was lost as far as bird work was concerned, for I had worn so many blisters on my feet that it was impossible to do much walking. The following day saw me again at "Sandy Island". Most of the Common Terns had full sets of three eggs. Black Skimmers were beginning to nest and I saw numbers of nests containing one or two eggs and one with a full set of four. These birds suffer worse from the depredations of eggers than do the Laughing Gulls, as it is much easier to pick up a basketfull of eggs from the sand, than it is to wade the marsh for them. While it is true that the eggs are smaller, the egger just takes more eggs. As is well known, the eggs are deposited in a shallow depression, wallowed out in the sand by the birds. On the following day (June 7th) we went to a marsh that in 1917 contained about (as I estimated) one thousand nests of Laughing Gull and a large colony of Foster's Tern. It had been egged to such an extent that I saw less than a half dozen full sets of Gull eggs and but one of the Tern. Landing at another island on the way back, I found a nest of Oystercatcher containing two eggs. This nest was much the prettiest one of this species I have ever seen. It was plentifully lined with bits of sea shell and had about its rim, long slender pieces of the same. It reminded me of the border of shells often seen about the edges of old fashioned flower beds. I arrived back "home" in time to find a nest of Maryland Yellowthroat containing four eggs and a nest of Prairie Warbler, built about ten feet from the ground in a four pronged fork of a pine sapling. The four eggs that it contained were transformed into as many lusty youngsters on the following morning. It may seem strange to many collectors to find a nest of this species in such a location, but both parent birds were seen a number of times and the song of the male could be heard in the woods at almost any time during the day. Bird nesting on the next day was limited to a stroll in the woods of the "home" island. On a sandy ridge with a sparse growth of sassafras and wild cherry trees, I found three nests of Crested Flycatcher, each containing five eggs. On June 9th, we again visited the marsh where we were on the 4th. I was determined to have a good look into the Laughing Gull nests. My guide landed me upon the shore of the marsh, and gave me directions how to go to a part of the marsh that was so hard to reach that the eggers seldom molested the birds there. I started upon one of the hardest, grueling jobs of marsh wading I had ever undertaken. I would sink into the mud, almost to my knees with every step taken and in one place while crossing one of the hundreds of creeks, I sank into the mud up to my hips, and the worst feature of the job was there was no place to sit down and rest for a single instant. I had six hours of this and saw hundreds of nests containing three eggs and a number with two which evidently were full sets in such instances, as incubation had begun. The tide, which covers the marsh, when full, was beginning to come in, making the wading harder and the creeks fuller of water and harder to ford, before I came to the shore and the waiting boat. To say that I was "all in," would express it mildly. On June 12th, while coming away from the Black Skimmer colony, where several full sets of four were seen, Wilson's Plover was flushed from its nest which contained three eggs. No nest-simply a slight depression in the sand. Two days later, my son and I were returning to the boat from a walk on another island, when I almost stepped upon a Willet as she flew from her nest containing four eggs. The nest was composed of of dried beach grass, and was concealed under a growing bunch of grass. On July 16th, we found two more sets of Crested Flycatchers, both of four eggs and two sets of Flicker of five and six eggs respectively, as well as a nest full of young Flickers just ready to leave the nest. One nest of Crested Flycatcher was composed largely of wing tips (bone included) and pieces of skin, with the feathers attached of the Knot, that had no doubt been illegally killed, for as late as June 9th, there were still small flocks of Knot and Turnstones upon the beaches, and I was told that they were being shot daily. Other visits to "Sandy Island" on June 17th and 19th showed the effects of the eggers. Only at the farthest end, where the eggers would have to walk about five miles, were the Black Skimmers unmolested. Most of the nests at other places were empty or contained but one or two eggs. Another nest of Oystercatcher seen; it contained two eggs and had no lining whatever, the eggs being laid in a depression in the sand. On the 19th, we found two more nests of Crested Flycatcher containing four and five eggs respectively. The Fly was |