THE OOLOGIST. 



51 



uous paths over the arid land in slow, 

 lumbering trains to quaff the insiped 

 waters and lounge upon the muddy and 

 grassless banks. 



Here and there upon hot and dusty 

 plain are mounds of whitening bones, 

 each marking the site where once some 

 creature fell to become the food of the 

 scavengei's of this dreary waste. Oc- 

 casionally we meet with the skeleton 

 of a cow still covered with the dry hide, 

 through an aperture iu'the abdomen the 

 white bones are revealed. A glance at 

 the heavens tells the tale. Far up, ap- 

 pearing as so many dark specks, sail 

 a few Turkey Buzzards and Vultures 

 awaiting the fall of another victim. 

 The whitening mounds that dot this 

 parched land, the reclining bodies 

 mouldering into dust have all in their 

 turn furnished a rejiost for yon fleeting 

 specks. 



H. C. LiLLIE, 



Ann Arbor, Mich. 



A Lucky Day. 



It was the ninth of June, and the 

 -uu had risen in a cloudless sky.* The 

 general indications promised a tine and 

 rather warm sunny day. In my estima- 

 tion, it was not to be a perfect collec- 

 tor's day, for I prefer to have the solar 

 orb obscured, as it i.s then less diflicult 

 for one to recognizea small Ijird in the 

 tree-tops, or to discover a cunningly 

 concealed nest among the l)ranches,and 

 then it is not so fatiguing as when the 

 sun shines brightlJ^ 



I had decided to spend the day in 

 collecting birds and their eggs, and 

 conse<|uently I started earl^^, fully 

 equipped with all necessary apparatus. 

 My lirst objective point was a swamp, 

 distant about one mile. On the way I 

 secured a line male Scarlet Tanager, 

 and a set of four eggs of the Chewink. 

 This nest was on the ground, near the 

 butt of a white birch, and partially con- 

 cealed bv brush. 



On arriving at the swamp, I soon 

 found the particular spot that I had in 

 mind. The large white oak and swamp 

 maple trees were beautifully draped 

 and festooned with the Spanish moss, 

 which grows so abundantly in certain 

 localities. This Avas a favorite haunt 

 of the Blue Yellow-backed Warblers, as 

 was made evident by the frequent 

 songs of the males overhead. I spent 

 some two hours diligently searching for 

 nests, and at the expiiation of that 

 time, I felt well rewarded by finding 

 three, two of which contained four eggs 

 each, and one only two eggs. 



These nests were very artistic affairs, 

 being entii'ely constructed of moss, ex- 

 cepting a scanty lining of feathers, pine 

 needles and the soft inner bai-k of the 

 chestnut tree. They all were suspend- 

 ed penduously from horizontal branches 

 and they were rather difficult to distin- 

 guish from jjendant masses of moss. 



The eggs were creamy roseate before 

 blowing, and they wei'e dotted chiefly 

 at the larger end, with several shades 

 of reddish brown. 



In this swamp I also obtained a pair 

 of Canada Warblers, and under an over 

 hanging rock, a nest containing four 

 eggs of the Black-and-White Warbler. 

 The female fluttered out nearly uutler 

 my feet, or I should, in all probability, 

 not have discovered it. The nest was 

 in a depression, and it was neatly con- 

 structed of grass, rootlets, paper and 

 horse hair. The eggs were white, 

 spotted cwith reddish-brown and lilac, 

 and each bad a noticable wreath of 

 confluent splashes and dots around the 

 larger end. 



Later in the day, in high oak woods, 

 I flushed a Whip-poor-will and after an 

 extended search in the underbrush, I 

 found two of the prettiest eggs I have 

 ever collected, in a slight depression, 

 among the dead leaves. Thej^ were 

 creamy-white in color and dotted, and 

 blotched with shades of light brown, 

 and lilac, some of the markings being 



