June 1888.] 



AOT) OOLOGIST. 



95 



Baird's Sandpiper in Ontario. 



liY W. i;. SAINDEISS, LONDON, ONT. 



Some time aj;i) in looUiiig over my series of 

 Sandpipers. I suspected tlml a speeinien labelled 

 " Wliite-rumped, Port Franks, Ont., Sept. 5, 

 18S;i."' was not of that species, and after some 

 study determined it to be Baird'.s. 1 sent the 

 skin to D. D. Merriam, and ho very kindly cor- 

 roborated my identification and returned the 

 skin. 



On August, 17, ISSO, 1 took another at Tort 

 Stanh'y. from some Least Sandpipers, but it 

 was unfortunately destroyed by a cat. The 

 lirst-meiitioneil is the first earliest recorded cap- 

 ture of the si)ecies in Ontario, several individ- 

 uals mentioned in that useful volume, •' Birds 

 of Ontario," by Thomas Mcllraith, Esq., being 

 the only other recorded occurrences. 



Curious Nesting Place of the Spar- 

 row Hawk. 



BY II. 11. TAYI.OK. 



In San Benito County, near Sargent's, Cali- 

 fornia, Yellow-billed Magpies nest in consider- 

 able numbers in the oaks and sycamores, and 

 the Sparrow Hawks evidently admire the con- 

 venient style of architecture adopted by the 

 Magpies, for I have found that almost every 

 pair in this locality deposit their eggs in these 

 empty Magpies' nests. 



Of twelve sets of eggs of the Sparrow Hawk 

 taken this year by a friend and myself, all 

 but two were found in Magpies' nests. The 

 exceptional sets of eggs were placed one in a 

 hole in an oak, and one in a cavity iu a bank 

 on the San Benito l?iver. 



Fun Among the Birds. 



liY 1)1!. W. S. SXIWIJE, BEltNADOTTi;, II. 1.. 



That some birds possess a sense of humor is 

 often ma<le evident to tlie close observer of their 

 ai-tions. I'erhaps no other birds possess tliis 

 faculty to a greater degree than tliat of (he 

 family Corvlda; Crows, .lays, Magpies, et(!. 

 And many instances are on record siiowing that 

 tile love of fun and mischief is highly devel- 

 oped in some of these birds. 



A slmrt distance from my otlice stands an 

 old locust tree, wliere in a cavity about twenty 



feet up, made by a Flicker {Cohiptcs Aiinitns). 

 a Screeclier (Scojis -l.sjo), I'^is made Ins winter 

 home. J often run up this tree to see if lie is 

 at home, and generally find him present. Ins 

 sleepy eyes blinking at me in a lazy " don't 

 botlier me " fiishion. This Scops lias recently 

 been discovered iu bis home by a half-dozen 

 Blue .Jays {('ydinisitUt crislitta), and tin; discov- 

 ery seems to aftbrd them a great deal of mirth. 

 One at a time they will edg(! up to the cavity 

 and take a peep at bis Snipsliip and then go 

 screanung and shouting away in an apparent 

 great fright, only to return in a few minutes 

 and repeat the same proceedings. 



A few days ago I found a Hed-bellicd \\ ood- 

 pecker {(Jantiirus carulinu.i), jilaying bopeep 

 with this Sciips. The " Zebra " bird would 

 stealthily approach the entrance, and, after sev- 

 eral short retreats, would take a peep, when 

 almost instantly the owl would appear at the 

 entrance, but as cjuickly the woodpei'ker would 

 disappear on the opposite side of the tree, and 

 this " now you see ine " and " now you don't " 

 fun would continue as long as the screeclier 

 would appear at tiie entrance. 



A Cross-billed Woodpecker. 



nv W. F. WEST, GKEENSIiUKll, INIl 



^Vhilc out collecting one day this winter, i 

 shot a male Ked-bellied Woodpecker in normal 

 plumage, but with tiie mandibles of the bill 

 crossed. When the tips of the mandibles were 

 placed together, there would be a space of about 

 i inch between the upper and the lower. 

 This bird was in good shape, but it would seem 

 almost impossible for it to feed after the fash- 

 ion of woodpeckers. 



Smith's Longspur in Ohio. 



BY CLARK 1'. STKEATOK. 



Smith's Longspur {C'alcaridiin pii-tm:), collect- 

 ed at Garretsville, Ohio, on .Tan. i'.i. I observed 

 a large fiock of strange birds busily engaged in 

 feeding upon the seeds of rag-weed. They would 

 only stay a moment in a place and were very 

 shy, but I was lucky enough to secure two 

 very fine specimens. I believe this lo be the 

 first tiuK! this species has been taken in Ohio. 



With this issue, quite a number of subscrip- 

 tions expire, and by our rules, we shall be 

 obliged to discontinue sending the magazine to 

 those who do not renew. W'v hope that we 

 shall hear from j'ou, gentlemen. 



