July 1888.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



105 



but socrii more like dark spectres, they have 

 been so silent, while last winter they were 

 noisy. 



Hairy and Douny Woodpeikers have stood 

 by us all winter. Saw the tirst I'iloatcd Wood- 

 l)ecker last week. 'I'itiniee have been eonspii- 

 uoiis by their absence until williin a week. 



Itullli'il (J rouse have had a bard time, 1 should 

 think, I'oi 1 saw a number of places wbere Sir 

 lieynard has dug them out from under the 

 crust and had a feast. 



I did not intend to write so much when I be- 

 gan, but if my observations here among the 

 Mountains of North Conway are of any use to 

 you for the f). & O., you aie welcome to them. 



[While the mercury's up to !1(), send in your 

 thanks by tiotes to those enterprising fellows 

 who rnrni-b Winter Notes.] 



Song of the Brown Thrasher. 

 Legend. 



m AIM III li II. IIUWIiLI,. 



The Brown Thrasher is one of our common 

 summer residents. Their song, which is novel 

 as well as pleasing, is freijnently heard, the 

 singer usually occupying the topmost biancb of 

 some small tree or lii'dge on the edg<? of a 

 field. They prefer dry, upland ground, and I 

 have met them most frequently along old de- 

 serted roads, where they delight to wallow in 

 the sand, after the manner of the doMnstic 

 fowl. 



They build tlicii' iK'sts in sui.ill bushes or on 

 the ground, usually in a hedge, and the sharp, 

 m(!tallic " chip ■■ which they utter when it is 

 disturlied, while living about the head of the 

 intruder, is positive identity of the species. 

 Once heard, it can never be mistaken. 



I would not attempt to improve upon Mr. 

 Oliver Davie's description of their song, as 

 given in the .January (ISSS), Ooi.ogist, 1 will 

 simply give an i>ld legend concerning it whii-h 

 is current aroinid my birthplace on I^ong Is- 

 land, though I have never seen the stoiy in 

 print. 



There were three ])ersons conc(>rned ; a Mr. 

 Kaynor, a tavern-keeper : Tenill, an old toper; 

 and Zoplier, his friend and eom] anion in revel- 

 ry. As the story runs, the friends, one night, 

 partook freely of the contents of the cup, and 

 by ten o'clock the next forenoon, Mr. Terrill 

 had not sufliciently recovered from its etlects to 

 be very clear in his rc;asoning. it was a warm 



June evening, and as he wandered aimlessly 

 along an old road, he heard a Thrush singing, 

 and to his somewhat clouded imagination, it 

 .seemed to say, " Terrill, Terrill, Terrill, 'I'er- 

 rill," ''Hot to-day, hot to-day." "Where's 

 Zopher:' where's Zoiihery" " (ione to Kay- 

 iior's'? gone to If.aynor's?" 



I'pon hearing this, he became angry ,-it the 

 Thrush and accused him of telling talcs, but 

 all to no purpose, for the innocent l)ird kept 

 right on with his song. The culprit probably 

 told his fi'iends at the tavern about, it., and the 

 story has now passed down through several 

 generations, and for m3'self, I never heard a 

 more apt illustration of this uniques song. 

 Every time I hear one of these Thrushes sing- 

 ing, the story coiu<'S back to me, and now, 

 while I am wilting this, th<' abov(^ sentences, 

 if rapidly utt<'rcd, biing the song vividly to my 

 mind, and [ long for the time to come when I 

 can hear it again in some quiet, sunny nook of 

 the old farm. 



How a Set of Snipe's Eggs Were 

 Saved. 



IIV WATSON I.. ItlSIlol', KICNTVII.l.lO, N. .S. 



On May ;!1, ISSS, a friend sent me a set of 

 eggs of the Wilson .Snipe ((raini/iiaijo ih-licata). 

 The sod on which the nest was built was care- 

 fully dug up and placed in a basket, so that the 

 nest might reach me without being disfigured 

 or put out of shape, in order th:il I might get 

 measurements of the nest and see what the 

 material was that was used in its construction. 



The eggs were careftdly laid in cotton to 

 keep them warm, so I could hatch them out 

 and have the young birds for mounting, but 

 when I got them they were cold, so the next 

 question was, how to save the eggs? After 

 thinking the matter over for s(uiie time, I at 

 last hit upon a plan. 1 tirst took a thin piece 

 of rubber such as is used by dentists while till- 

 ing teeth, about l^ inches square, cut a hole 

 through the centre the same size that I wished 

 to drill the egg, the hole in the rubbei- coming 

 where the young bird bad ahvady commenced 

 to break the shell. The rubber was held in 

 place by sewing the edges together around the 

 egg. I then took a little block of pine plank, 

 and cut a hole in it large enough to allow the 

 egg to lay in and not project above the surface 

 of the wood. I then put the egg in the wood 

 (with the place to be drilled uppermost), bed- 

 bing it nicely in corn meal, leaving exposed 



