THE MINERAL COLLECTOR 



261 



the crystals were covered with tiny will get busy. New York still offers 



grains of iron pyrites, sparkling bril- a good field, with the excavations of 



liantly, and looking like gold. its subways and deep cellars, and the 



This rock is destitute of fossils. opening of new streets in the Bronx 



Hope local collectors and students now going on. 



ORNITHOLOGY 



Physical Experiment by a Catbird. 



BY HARRY A. J HDD, BRIDGEPORT, CONN. 



Although we often read of the habits 

 and antics of our feathered friends of 

 the woods, yet we do not as often 

 have an opportunity of observing 

 them. 



A short time ago, while out for an 

 early evening stroll through the woods, 

 the squawk of the catbird came float- 

 ing over the meadows toward me, and 

 a short search with the field classes 

 soon revealed the mouse-colored fel- 

 low. He was situated in the branches 

 of a small chokecherry tree growing 

 on the bank of a swiftly running 

 stream not a great distance away. 



I drew nearer and as I watched the 

 bird gathering his evening meal I was 

 vastly interested in his performance. 

 Either exoerience or instinct had fur- 

 nished him with the knowledge that 

 the slender branches supporting the 

 fruit were not strong enough to also 

 stmoort him, but would immediately 

 sink beneath his weight, thus making- 

 it difficult to secure his food. 



Therefore he had altered his plan 

 of attack. Selecting the cherry most 

 pleasing to his eye, he would flutter 

 to a branch beneath it Cone strong 

 enough to hold him), and with a quick 

 impulse throw himself upward toward 

 the fruit. Once the choice morsel was 

 well within his beak, he drooped — 

 deliberately droooed — his wings flut- 

 tering and beating the air until the 

 combined results of his weight and 

 strength served to separate the fruit 

 from the stalk. 



This performance he repeated over 

 and over again, with an appetite appar- 

 ently insatiable. He was a pugilistic 

 as well as a greedy fellow, as he prov- 

 ed by fighting off — between cherries 

 — three other catbirds fully as large 

 as himself, flying directly at them and 

 menacing them with beak and claw as 

 they sought to trespass upon his pre- 

 serves. 



My Downy Woodpeckers. 



Brooklyn, New York. 

 To the Editor: — 



I call them mine because I visited 

 them so often. In Prospect Park, 

 Brooklyn, I saw a pair making the 

 the beginnings of a nest, and gathered 

 some of their chips, as large as the end 

 of my finger, which fell at the foot of 

 the tree, some twenty feet below. After 

 the nest was to all appearances com- 

 pleted, I made them a visit, but found 

 no evidence that either Mr. or Mrs. 

 Woodpecker were at home. After long 

 and patient waiting, I decided to knock, 

 so found a stone half the size of a hen's 

 egg and tapoed on the trunk of the 

 great tree. Immediately Mrs. Wood- 

 pecker put her head and neck out of 

 the door, scrutinizing me carefully, 

 seeming to ask, "Did you want any- 

 thing of me?" She did not retreat 

 until after I left. 



The last time I visited their home an 

 English sparrow flew out of the door. 

 I hope the rightful owners had no fur- 

 ther use for their home. 



Caroline M. Hartwki.i.. 



