The OoLOGiST. 



Vol. XXII. No. 5. 



Albion, N. Y., May, 1905. 



Whole No. 214 



The Oologist. 



A Monthly Publication Devoted to 



OOLOGY, ORNITHOLOGY AND TAXT- 



DEEMY. 



FRANK H, LATTIN, Putlisher, 



ALBION, N. Y. 



ERNEST H. SHORT, Editor and Manager. 



Correspondence and items of interest to ttio 

 student of Birds, their Nests and Egi?s, solicited 

 from all. 



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ERNEST H. SHORT, Editor and .Manager. 

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Pica Pica Hudsonica. 



There is a black and white rascal out 

 here in Idaho that has furnished me 

 more amusement and study than all the 

 birds that have ever come under my 

 observing ken. Of all the wise birds 

 that the great All Father has made, 



commend me to the Black-billed Magpie. 

 You no doubt recall that old fable of 

 how all the birds came to school in nest 

 building to the Magpie and one by one 

 departed using just so much of the les- 

 son taught as they had learned, until she 

 was at last without pupils, hence the 

 Magpie is the only bird who knows how 

 to build a nest rightly. The story has 

 a moral to it. It is a fact that of all 

 the specimens of bird architecture that 

 I^have ever examined the nest of this 

 bird is far and away the most unique in 

 its adaptability. The nest used to be 

 constructed in hawthorn bushes about 

 t^n or fifteen feet from the ground, 

 then there came a change. When I first 

 began the study of birds the fact that 

 every bush of any size in the Clearwater 

 valley was the site of one or more nests 

 of the Magpie made me look to that 

 bird first of all. I was struck at once 

 with the great wisdom displayed in the 

 nest building. It is a very bulky aff'air 

 for so small a bird. Often it is as 

 large as a bushel basket and is cunningly 

 woven of dried iimbs that have fallen 

 from the thorns and are a veritable 

 chevaux de frise directed against any 

 too inquisitive and dinner hunting rod- 

 ent who sought to molest the peace and 

 quietude of the family. It was my good 

 fortune at one time to see a racoon din- 

 ner hunting in this manner. He ap- 

 proached the nest amid the storms of 

 protest from the parent birds who dash- 

 ed at him with shrill cries of anger. 

 They picked and scratched in the most 

 determined manner. With the sway- 

 ing of the slender limb the poor coon 

 had very little time to defend himself. 

 With grim determination he crept out 

 to the nest and when he found that it 

 was quite another matter to get at the 



