THE OOLUGIST. 



•,'ll 



species to those that l)reeil id Raleigh. 

 A few miuutes later I fomul a third 

 Least Bitterns uest just tiuishetl. simihir 

 iu consiriKtiou aud situation to the other 

 two. Next day May 31,1 killed two more 

 Least Bittern, both males and found a 

 fourth nest, containing live hard sat 

 •eggs. Thi> nest was built of dead cat-tail 

 leaves and was placed two and a half 

 feet above the water, in a tall bunch of 

 . live cattails, and was saucer-shaped like 

 the others. On visiting the nest I found 

 the previous day, 1 a])proached to 

 within three feet of it before noticing 

 that the old bird was on the uest and 

 -she did look funuj; she was standing or 

 :sitting on the nest. I could not well see 

 which, her body aud neck perfectly up- 

 right and her bi pointing straigiit up- 

 wards also. 



Her body and ueck were llattciied as 

 much as i)ossible and her litrht jellow 

 <;3'es stuck out on each side of her head 

 f :as she stood facing me as motionless as 

 i ;a statue, looking so long and thin. I 

 almost laughed as I looked at her; on 

 making a slight movement she Hew off 

 and I let her go unharmed; however, I 

 did not get a set from the uest as a \evy 

 heavy rain the next day beat the nest all 

 out of shape and when I went a week 

 later to take tljp nest it had been desert- 

 ed . And with I this will close what 

 was to me an interesting chapter in the 

 study of our marsh bii'ds. 



The American Magpie. 

 {Pica picd Inulsoitini.) 



1 propose to the friends of the "Oolo- 

 OI3T" the intelligence nf the "American 

 Magpie." 



These lines will be fully appieciatcd 

 by those who have lived among the 

 western snow capped mountains, tin- 

 abode of this curior.s bird, and have 

 witnessed the grand and wild scenery 

 which makes one feel inspired with no- 

 J)ler and [,nandei" thoughts; and "look 



through Nature to "Nature's God," ev- 

 , en through the cunning and rogueish 

 tricks of the Magpie. 



This bird may be found williin the 

 range of the Rocky Mountains, but not 

 as far west as California. It will be 

 seen more abundantly in Colorado. 

 Montana and the neighboring states. 



Their nests are very conspicuous and 

 large being made of sniall dry sticks 

 strongly placed in the top of a bunch of 

 willows by the side of a creek, or in 

 some large pine tree on the mountain 

 side. The size of their nest varies from 

 ten to eighteen inches iu width aud 

 from fifteen to forty inches in height with 

 an arched roof and a hole in the side 

 near the the top for the entrance of the 

 bird. 



The Magpie commences to la,y in Ai)ril 

 but May is the month iu which most 

 of the eggs are deposited. Last spring 

 I took a clutch of seven from a nest the 

 first of April. The number of eggs var- 

 ies from five to nine commonly seven to 

 eight, and are of a greyish white with a 

 yellowish or greenish tinge, variously 

 mottled with purplish or violet brown. 



The American Magpie is well known 

 among the earlier travelers and settlers 

 as may be seen by reading and hearing 

 the various stories related aljout the cun- 

 ning and thieving habits of this bird. 

 The}' have been known to tly in the 

 house at dinner hour and seize a piece 

 of meat from the plate even when tins 

 occupants were seated around the table. 

 They will steal anything they can get 

 hold of and if they are a pet bird as was 

 the case (juite often among the early 

 settlers to have tame Magpies they geu- 

 er;'-lly ma<le it a point to get lu)ld of a 

 great deal more than desired by the un- 

 fortunate ones who had to go without 

 somi^thing for their dinner. 



There is one curious trait aijoul this 

 bird that is (|uite interesting. Il will 

 alight upon the cattle and horses while 

 out on the ranges in the winter months 

 aiul i)ick the u'luiis from their backs, 



