110 



THE OSPREY. 



I wisli tu tliaiik .you pcrsoiuilly for my many 

 nblig-ations to you. i constantly use your 

 "Ivey" in my study of my "bird neighbors,"' and 

 find it invaluable. 



Very sincerely yours, 



Leander S. Keysek. 



[We do not share Mr. Keyser's dread of 

 "kickers.'" They ha\e no terrors for us. We 

 regard them as generally useful and well- 

 meaning' persons, whom we encourage, as in 

 the pi'esent instance. Yes, it is necessary to 

 print articles which strike some "kickers" as 

 "gory." Keither young nor old persons can 

 study birds successfully without killing and 

 robbing some of them. We do not know for 



what ])urpose ilr. I'lulo \V. Smitli desired three 

 sets of the eggs of the lilue-winged Warbler, 

 but we presume he wished them either for his 

 own cabinet or for sale or exchange with other 

 collectors. We venture to remind Mr. Keyser 

 that all the liirds killed and nest.s robbed for 

 ornithological purposes, since oi'uithology be- 

 gan, are utterly insignificant in number iu com- 

 parison with those so treated annually by 

 farmers' wives and other poulterers. .\lso, that 

 (iod kills more birds continually by means of 

 bad weather, snakes, hawks, skunks, monkeys 

 and other destructive agencies than Innr liccii 

 killed for ornithological purposes siiirc tin- 

 world beg-an. and we have no dispiisitioii In liucl 

 f;iult with the Almighty. — V^DS. | 



Pigeon Holes. 



Destruction ob' Birds nv the Act of God. — 

 The cold snap of last week knocked the bottom 

 out of the coldest weather "in the memory of 

 the oldest inhabitant" of the Muskingum Val- 

 ley, or Southern Ohio. The tempera'.ure ranged 

 from 3'2 to 41 degrees below zero. Owing to 

 the snow and severe cold, many winter resident 

 birds, quail and rabbits were starved and 

 frozen to death. — Willard H. Davis, Lowell, 

 Washington County, Ohio, Feb. IS, 1899. 



Red-Headed Woodpecker Far Xortii ix 

 Winter. — While on a short hunting trip, the 

 11th of January, 189U, in Green Lake county, 

 Wisconsin. 1 was greatly surprised by seeing 

 a lled-headed Woodpecker (ilelanerpes ery- 

 throcephalus) in a small strip of woods, .sit- 

 ting on a large elm tree, in a sleepy position. 

 To make the identification sure, I shot him. 

 On examining his stomach 1 found that he had 

 sustained himself by eating leaf-bnds and the 

 seeds of various plants. .\s a general rule, 

 these birds migrate by gathering into small 

 flocks about the latter part of October, and ar- 

 rive not before the middle of Ma.v. the follow- 

 ing year. Have any of your readers in this lati- 

 tude observed a similar case'.' — H. E. Xeum.\n>'. 

 Watertown, Wis., Feb. ^'^. 1>99. 



Immaculate Egg of H.vun Sw.vi.r.ow. — In the 

 October, isns. Osi'rey. 1 find that Mr. Tyler a.sks 

 for records of pure white eggs of Chelidon ery- 

 throgaster, as it was — Hirundo erythrogaster, 

 as It now is, in the A. O. U. list. In Jlay, 1893. 

 1 secured a set of five eggs, one of whicli is de- 

 void of markings, the other four being normal. 

 Fully a dozen other sets were examined in the 

 same barn, but no other pure white eggs were 

 noticed. This was at P.edford. Lawrence 

 county, Indlana.^C. Titer -Smith, .\nilcrsnn. 

 Ind., Feb. 10. 1S99. 



A UsEFfi. Egg Kmfe. — In The Osprey for 

 December, 1S9S. in an article on "Some minor 

 trials in preparing eggs." Eugene S. Tiolfe 

 says: "The inner film of membrane tliat the 

 drill fails to cut away is one of the most an- 

 noying obstacles to satisfactory work, and the 

 despair of every collector." 



T overcome this difficulty by drilling clear In 

 and then cutting the tiaii of film away with a 

 slender, pointed knife, which I nuule by forcing 

 a straightened ]ilece of watch-spring into a 

 soft wood handle far enough to make it solid. 



then filing it to a point about hau an inch long, 

 and then sharpening it on a whetstone. With 

 a little care and patience, the film in small eggs 

 with fragile shells, as well as in the large, 

 tough eggs, can be removed, leaving a clean- 

 cut hole, allowing perfect drainage and free ad- 

 mission of air. if such a knife is once \ised for 

 removing the flap of film covering the drill 

 hole, one will have no occasion to use an em- 

 >n-yo liook or a dentist's cone burr for that 

 purpose. To make a clean cut it will be nec- 

 essary to keep the knife very sharp — the thin, 

 fine point is quickly dulled by the gritty shell. 

 — Wili.ard H. Davis. Lowell. Washington 

 County. Ohio. Feb. 18, 1899. 



Rare Birds in Rhode Island. — During the 

 spring migration of 1898 an unusual number of 

 rai-e Warblers passed through this State. On 

 the morning of May IS. 1898, 'in Warwick. I met 

 with a Tennessee Warbler, singing in the tall 

 oaks. Of a sudden, he flew down into a clump 

 of huckleberry bushes, and not knowing its 

 song. 1 reluctantly shot it. There is one other 

 record, a male, shot at Centerdale. R. 1.. Sept. 

 IS, 1886. 



One .lune 5, in Warwick. I found a male 

 Mourning Warbler searching- for breakfast in 

 a moist swamp. Three others have been taken, 

 one by myself. May 21, 1896. in Cranston. K. 1. 

 Their song so nearly resembles the .\lai\l;iud 

 )ello\v Throat's that the two birds arc dit- 

 ficult to tell apart. Besides these, I uu-t with 

 Wilson"s. Black-throated Blue. .Magnolia, aurl 

 Canadian Warblers. 



Amongst a number of Wlilte-throatcd and 

 .Swamp Sparrows, on the- morning of Sept. 2S, 

 189"^. I espied a Lincoln's Sparrow, of whicdi 

 there have been but two others taken in tin- 

 State. This bird is very shy and retiring, and 

 easily overlooked amongst numbers of other 

 species. 



While out with my dog- after quail, on Oct. 

 9. 1898. in Warwick'. 1 flu.shed a Bicknell's 

 Thrush from among the leaves in a small grove 

 of oaks and chestnuts. He flew about fifty 

 feet onto the side of a large oak. clinging with 

 his claws, like a Nuthatch, to the coarse bark. 

 It was a young male, and is the only specimen 

 that I know of having been taken in Rhode Is- 

 land. — II. S. Hathaway, Cranston, R. I., Feb. 

 C, 1S99. 



