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7 2 BULI,ETIN OF THE COOPER ORNITHOI,OGICAI, CLUB. of the bridge under which the alleged nest was situated. It was apparent that the ravens had selected the bridge for the reason that it was the best place in the district. There were no cliffs within perhaps twenty miles, and as feed was plen- tiful the ravens had concluded to use the bridge for a nesting site. I found the nest in a confused heap on the ground and two broken eggs near by, the nest having probably been pushed from the trestle by the section men. It had been placed on an upper beam of the bridge and the eggs could not have been more than two feet from the rails. The distance from the ground was about thirty feet. The nest was composed outwardly of coarse sticks, some of them two feet in length. ' Inside was a snug lining of about five pounds of wool, mixed with soft cedar bark. Many sheep graze on the deserts in winter and the wool was easily obtained. The railroad is used by four trains daily between Lehi Junction and the Tintic mining region and is a branch of the Union Pacific Railway. H. C. JOHNSON, American Fork, Utah. Decoy Nests of the Western Winter Wren. I have used the expression "decoy" for the nests that are built by many of our birds, apart from the one used for raising the young. This habit is, perhaps, more characteristic with the wrens than with any other family of our birds, although it is well known as a trait of the Marsh Wrens. The Western Winter Wren, ( Tro?lodytes hem?lispactfic,s), can easily claim second place in this peculiarity, if, indeed, it does not fully equal the Marsh Wrens. The number of "decoys" built by one pair of these birds varies from one to at least four, and on one occasion I found eight of these false nests that were strung along the edge of a stream bordered by dense growth of all sizes. These were all in a space about ?5o yards long and almost in a straight line, but owing to extreme difficulty in locating them, it is probable that there were more. One thing is painfully certain, that I could not find the right nest, although it nmst have been in the immediate vicinity. I do not, however, feel j.ustified in c!aim?ng that all of these belonged to one pair of birds, as four is the largest number I have ever found in any previous case, but only one bird put in an appearance during my entire search. The "decoys" are never so well con- ?tructed as the regular nests, but a few weeks ago I was surprised to find that a pair .had made over and lined one of last season and laid one egg. Unfortunately a very wet period of weather soaked the nest so thoroughly that the birds desert- ed. This seems to supply one very good reason for the apparently superfluous "decoys." J.H. Bow?.Es, Tacoma, Wash., May 29, '99- Elevated Nest 0f the Lutescent Warbler. On May 3?, ?897, I' found a nest of the Lutescent Warbler placed three feet from the ground in a bunch of vines. It was loosely constructed of a quantity of dry leaves, grass and skeletons of leaves, lined with hair and fine grass. On May 3, ?899, while walking along a creek about oni? quarter of a mile from where I had found the nest in ?897, I flushed a bird from a nest in an oak tree, and was surprised to see it was a Lutescent Warbler. The nest was six feet from the ground and three feet from the trunk of the tree. A horizontal limb branched out from the tree and a snmll branch stuck up from it for about eight inches, and over this was a great quantity o Spanish moss, (Ram?lina ret?formis), which fell over the horizontal limb. The nest is quite bulky, composed of leaves, grass and bark strips, lined with hair and fine grass, and was partially supported by both limbs and the moss, which is all about it and which forms quite a cover for the eggs. At this date the eggs were about to hatch and could not be saved. HENRY W. C^R?rGE?, Sonoma, Cal. The Yellow Rail and Saw-Whet 0wl in Sonoma Co., Cal. On December 20, ?898, while walking through the salt grass, I flushed a Yellow Rail xvhich flew about twenty feet and alighted. I caught it and carried it about all day and put it in a box that night. The following morning it was quite lively, but I reluctantly killed it. It proved to be a female in fine condition and measures; length, 6%; extent, ?3; wing, 3?; tail ?.2o inches.