fi3 



THE OSPEEY. 



once heard not easy to forget or mistake. His 

 uiale joined him, and in a few seconds flew 

 down to the road, hopping along till she sud- 

 denly begun tugging at something which proved 

 to be a horse hair. This she appropriated, and 

 ilying over a rail fence dropped down in a sinall 

 clump of weed stalks. There I found the nest, 

 just receiving the finishing touches, about three 

 inches off the ground. It was deeply cup-shap- 

 ed, composed outwardly of oak leaves, next 

 strips of grape-vine bark and coarse grasses, 

 then a layer of fine grasses, and last a lining of 

 horsehair. On passing two days later I found 

 one egg had been laid; next day the nest con- 

 tained this egg, with the addition of a Cowbird's 

 et;g, which I removed, fearing the Warbler 

 might desert her nest. On the 14th the nest 

 coiuaiued two eggs; 15th and i6th, 3; 17th and 

 iMlh, 4; 19th and 20th, 5. These I took, as the 

 bird had been sitting several days. They were 

 iilossy white with a roseate tinge before being 

 blown, lightly marked over the entire surface 

 with minute specks of black, larger at the butt, 

 where they formed spots; also there were some 

 lavender spots on the large end, and on two of 

 the eggs some lines and scrawls much like the 

 markings on eggs of the Maryland Yelhjw throat. 

 My second nest was taken five days afterward. 

 I had been watching a pair of Prairie Warblers 

 building, when I heard a male Bluewing sing- 

 ing. After hunting three d.iys unsuccessfully, I 

 was one afternoon passing about thirty yards 

 from where I had been previously looking, when 

 up jumped a Bluewing, ten feet ahead of me, 

 and perched on a tall weed. After surveying 

 me critically for a moment he hopped down to 

 the foot of a small weed clump of about three 

 stalks, 15 inches high. I made my way to the 

 spot, and there was the nest. What a pretty 

 sight Mrs. Bluewing made, with her bill, top of 

 head, and sparkling eyes showing on one side, 

 and her tail sticking up on ihe other! She re- 

 mained on the nest for a minute, while my face 

 was not three feet from her. Then leaving the 

 nest with a flutter and a 'chip, chip," she hop- 

 ped slowly away near the ground, from twig to 

 twig, and saw me despoil her nest of six beauti- 

 ful fresh eggs! My third set was the second 

 nesting of the same pair. The new nest must 

 have been started immediately, as I found it 

 two days later about 20 feet from the previous 

 location. I nearly stepped on the nest, which 

 was newly completed. Two days later it con- 

 tained one egg and on the morning of the 24th I 

 secured the set of 5 eggs, together with the nest 

 and female. I hardly had the heart to shoot 

 the poor bird, she seemed so tame and fearless, 



but I needed her to make the identification 

 doubly sure. — PHir<o W. Smith, Jr., S/. Louis, 

 iMo.June 8, I897 



IvOON Shooting. 

 Some years ago 

 while looking for 

 shore birds on a 

 small lake near Ke- 

 wauee, I found a 

 Loon and put in sev- 

 eral hours trying to 

 get at him. I fired 

 at least a dozen 

 shots, but did not 

 seem to hurt him at 

 all, though he must 

 have been hit. In 

 the afteruiion I re- 

 turned, accompani- 

 ed by a noted rifle 

 shot, bound to have 

 that Loon and test 

 his diving powers. 

 My friend drove the 

 Loon down the lake to me and I got two shots 

 at about 30 yards, using heavy shot and plenty 

 of powder in a Parker gun. We saw the water 

 fly when the shot struck, and as he did not dive 

 we knew I had hit him, though it liatl not in- 

 jured him, so far as we could see. Mr. Eowen 

 tlieu began with the rifle, and finally cut the 

 bird's neck nearly half way through. For all 

 this, when I approached in a boat he was able 

 to dive a distance. I used the shot gun again 

 and seemed to cripple him, but had to kill him 

 after I got him in the boat. Now this Loon 

 never got under water till the shot struck, and 

 no other Loon ever did in my opinion 

 and in that of Mr. Bowen, unless it was far 

 enough away to have time; and a rifle-ball will 

 beat a Loon at 100 yards every time, if he does 

 not see you before you shoot. 1 used 4 drs. of 

 powder and I'.s ok. of No. 3 chilled shot, yet 

 failed to put one through his skin, though I 

 found many bruises where they had struck, 

 when I skinned the bird later on. The matter 

 stands like this : A shotgun will not kill a 

 Loon except by chance, as he dives at the first 

 move and is usually under water by the time 

 the shot leaves the gun: But if you shoot at a 

 Loon or Grebe when he is still and has not seen 

 you, the shot will find him out. I have seen it 

 tried on Grebes many a time, with a heavy rifle 

 at about 200 yards, and the ball got there before 

 the bird tried to go under.— Dr. A. C. Mukchi- 

 soN, Toulon, Stark County, III., May 8, iSy.S. 



In the Osprey's Claws. 



Eggs of Native Pennsylvania Birds: A World's 

 /•'air' Cotlcelion.— By ] . Warren Jacobs. Waynes- 

 burg, Pa. 1895. pp. 10; 2 plates and portrait of 

 author. 



This booklet is a list of the collection of birds' 

 eggs of Pennsylvania exhibited at the World's 

 Fair by Mr. Jacobs, acting under the State Or- 

 nithologist. The exhibition embraced in most 

 cases a single set of nearly all of the birds 

 known to breed in that state, and was no doubt 



an interesting and creditable display. The list 

 is badly printed, with many misspelled words, 

 but this is by no means the most reprehensible 

 feature of the publication. On the plates infor- 

 mation is conveyed of bird murdering, under 

 the guise of science, that merits the severest 

 condemnation. Thus, on the first plate are 

 shown eggs of the Whipporwill "selected from 

 a series of 25 sets" and eggs of the Red-tailed 

 Hawk "selected from a series of 50 sets.'' The 



