76 



THE OOLOGIST. 



of Cactus Wren just built, six or seven 

 nests of Verdin in same condition (one 

 had three fresh eggs), and took nest 

 and three fresh eggs of CanonTowhee. 

 Found a nest of Crissal Thrasher with 

 two badly incubated eggs. This was on 

 St. Patrick's Day, March the 17th. 

 The Verdin's nests were all in trees 

 on which foliage had not yet sprouted, 

 and were accordingly easy to locate. 

 Had the train been delayed another 

 day, no doubt I would have followed 

 that river and got myself lost some- 

 where down by the Mexican border. 

 Yours Sincerely, 



H. R. TAYLOR. 



A Quick Way to Mount Dry Skins. 



Take your bird and extract the filling 

 very carefully, then instead of soaking 

 inside and out, simply use luke warm 

 water on inside and under the wings 

 fill with cotton and soak it, being care- 

 ful all the time not to get the feathers 

 wet. Put in a tight box and in about 

 24 hours, (according to size of bird) ? you 

 will have a comparatively fresh skin. 

 Some of my best birds have been 

 mounted this way, with very little, if 

 any trouble. Roll cotton soaked around 

 feet and legs. 



R. A. LEE, 

 Sanilac Center, Mich. 



The Editor has followed this course 

 with success for some years but would 

 add that it is wise to grease the toe 

 nails and beak before soaking to pre- 

 vent them from scaling off. Ed. 



Irregular Distribution of Birds. 



The House Wren, is said to be a com- 

 mon bird in this state, and I understand 

 it is in many localities ; but in twenty 

 years of observations have met with 

 but five individuals in Bristol county. 

 Examined one nest which contained sev- 

 en eggs. This persistently erratic dis- 

 tribution is difficult to account for. 

 Some say it is due to certain insects, to 

 which this bird is partial, being found 



only where the Wren summers. This 

 is not plausible, however, because we 

 then have the anomalous distribution 

 of the insects to explain. 



CHARLES L. PHILLIPS, 

 Taunton, Mass. 



Turkey Buzzard Near Toledo. 



On March 28, 1905, Mr. C. . T. Day, 

 Mr. H. E. Emery and myself, all of 

 this city observed a turkey buzzard. It 

 was flying low and could not have been 

 mistaken for any other bird. This bird 

 is very rare in ths section of the county. 



A Sora Rail. 



On April 13, 1905, Mr. Paul Kone of 

 this city caught a Sora Rail with his 

 chickens. He shut it up in the shed 

 over night but it was found dead in the 

 morning. This is a peculiar place to 

 find a Rail. 



A. C. READ. 



Editor of the Oologist : 



About three weeks ago 1 put up a 

 bird box for wrens and in a week a pair 

 had commenced to build in it. It is now 

 complete and has a full complement of 

 eggs (7) which are nearly hatched. Al- 

 though several mornings it has been at 

 freezing point the eggs are alright. Is 

 it not rather unusual for wrens to build 

 so early? Also several sets of Lark 

 Sparrow's eggs have been taken here. 



April 19, 1905. 



URI WORCESTER. 



Evidently the Wrens are early in Ok- 

 lahoma. Western New York has enjoy- 

 ed nightly freezes and several snow 

 storms during the last two weeks. Rob- 

 ins, Bluebirds, Horned Larks, Hawks 

 and a few Phoebe's are nesting. Edi- 

 tor. 



Publications Received. 



The Warbler, Vol. I, No. 2. 

 Nature Study, Vol. XIV, No. 4. 

 Am. Ornithology, Vol. V, No. 5. 



