42 



OKmTHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 13-No. 3 



uncommon practice to i-ut off the bird's lipad 

 and use its bill as a stopper to their powder- 

 horns. Nor are we confined to tradition for 

 equally tough examples. It is a melancholy 

 truth that I once saw a student at a country 

 academy who scalped onf, doubtless victimized 

 by stratagem, and was using its handsome 

 crest tor a purpose no less base than that of a 

 book-mark. Not caring to see my old friend's 

 scalp under a profane thi\mb, I bought it. 



I once interviewed an aged negro regaiding 

 Ills knowledge of the esculent qnalties of the 

 bird. He was reticent at first, but tinally con- 

 fessed having to eaten the •' Pickerwood big-as- 

 a-crow." After prefacing his answers by tell- 

 ing me what otheis did, he also admitted that 

 he ate hawks and owls, but promptly denied, 

 without any circumlotion, that the meat of the 

 crow ever entered his cesophagus. However, 

 of bis replies to my (picstions touching the Log- 

 cock, I can oiler the following summary: 



•■ Hit builds a nest in a tree like other picker- 

 woods. Hit's skerry, and sets on t'other side 

 of the tree fum yer. Some eats 'em. I /(poet 

 "em. Why, hit don't eat nothing bad. Hit 

 tastes ab(mt like chicken." 



The last is an index to the whole, for no deep 

 scrunity is made into the bill of tare of the un- 

 fortunate bird that tastes, or is supposed to 

 taste like chicken, to ascertain whether it does, 

 or does not eat anything bad ; and the Pileated 

 Woodpecker has too much meat on him to be 

 allowed to waste when it will help to keep the 

 wolf away. And. now, I have followed the 

 I-ogcock much liingiT than I intended. 



A List of Birds Known to Breed 

 at Raleigh, N. C. 



BY C. S. HKIMI.KV, KAI.EIGH, N. C. 



Green Heron (Ardfn vircscens). I have not 

 found many nests of this bird although it is a 

 common summer visitor. May 15, 188G, and 

 May 30, 1887, are the dates of the only nests 

 found in the last two j'ears. 



King Rii\] (Ball us ehffrins). Two nests were 

 found here in June 1S8.T, and on June, 22, 1887. 

 We took two young birds in the down not more 

 than a day or two from the nest. 



Woodcock {Philohcla minor). A rare breeder 

 with us, and I liave never found the nest; but 

 on two occasions (in May, 1884, and April, 

 1885), the old bird has endeavored to decoy me 

 from her nest and young. 



KWXdeer {uEgialites vocife.rus) . A nest found 

 May 19, lS8(j, with four hard set eggs is my 

 only record. 



Morning Dove (Zenaidnra c.arolinensis). Com- 

 mon. Nests from April 21 to June 17, usually 

 in small saplings. Eggs two. 



Bob White {OrUjx rirrjinianus). Protected 

 as this bird and its eggs are, both by law and 

 public opinion, I never take its egg, and seldom 

 look for them. It nests quite late in June and 

 July; in fact, on September 7th, I came on a 

 brood of young which could not have been 

 hatched more than a week. 



'I'urkey Vulture {Cathartcs aura). May '20, 

 1887, two eggs. 



H.-irred Owl (Strix nehulosum). A half grown 

 young bird taken from the nest on April 21, 

 1887, is my only record ; but it is probably a 

 tolerably common breeder here. 



Screech Owl {Scops asio). Common. April 

 27, 1S85, three hard set eggs. May 5, 1S85, two 

 half grown young. The former nest was in a 

 hollow stump, the bottom of the hollow where 

 the nest was being on a level with the ground. 



Ked-shouldered Hawk {Buteo lineatus). April 

 7 to May 28. The only hawk 1 know to nest 

 here. Usually builds in fair-sized trees near a 

 stream. 



Black-billed Cuckoo {Cocci/zns erythropthal- 

 mus). Quite a rare bird here. I only know of five 

 specimens having been taken. One, a female, 

 was taken on July 15, 188(i, and contained eggs 

 ready for laying. 



Yellow-billed Cuckoo {Coa-yxus americanus). 

 July 27 and August 19, 1887. 



Downy Woodpecker (Picns puhe.uvns) . A 

 nest with young found in 1885. 



Flicker {CUtlaptes auratus). Pare in summer. 

 An old bird feeding young in a hole in a dead 

 stub on June 5, 1886. 



Swift {Chxtura pelasf/ira). Breeds abundant- 

 ly in chimneys. 



Huby-throated Hummer (Trocliiliis colubris). 

 Common. Nests May 20 to 30. At the end of 

 limbs from eight to fort}' feet from the ground. 

 Two eggs. 



Whippoorwill {Antrostomus vociferns). May 

 5, 1SS7, two hard set eggs. May 18, nest with 

 one egg hatching, and one young bird just 

 hatched. Jlay 27, a female containing two 

 eggs just ready for laying killed. 



Crow {Cormis fruyivoru.'t). Not an uncom- 

 mon breeder here. Shot a young bird just able 

 to fly on May 8, 188G. 



Kingbird (l^yrannus caroliiiensh). Nests com- 

 monly here. 



Great-crested Flycatcher {Myiarchus crin- 



