180 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 13-No. 12 



Catbird, the chatter of the Wren, the Golden 

 Woodpecker's " ohee-ah," the "pib-pib" of the 

 Kobia, the (too familiar) " chirp" of the 

 English Sparrow, the " pip" of the Song 

 Sparrow, and the " cu-cu" of the Wood Thrush, 

 were all present and quite distinctly uttered. 



* :1c * ^ « )|< * 



Out for a tramp on a warm May morning, I 

 stopped to rest by the side of a little pond in a 

 lonesome hollow. On either side of the pond 

 were pines and ceders, and in tliese evergreens 

 was a pair of Warblers, singing — first one, then 

 the other, " zwee-zwee-zwee-zwee-zwee-zwee'' 

 in a low, minor tone, and on the ascending 

 scale. I was all attention in a moment, and 

 after peering among the branches for some 

 time I Anally caught sight of one of the singers ; 

 I couldn't help exclaiming (whether audibly or 

 not, 1 don't remember) "Ain't he a beauty! 

 and the next moment I tired and soon had him 

 in my hand, to examine at my leisure. 1 think 

 many will agree with me when 1 say that the 

 Prairie Warbler, for such it was, is one of the 

 daintiest and most entertaining of his family. 



During the whole of last spring and on into 

 the summer, they were very common, and I 

 had ample opportunity for studying their 

 habits. They arrived about the first of May ; 

 the last specimen noted was on Sep. 17, the last 

 one heard singing on Sept. 3. 



They prefer dry, upland ground, particularly 

 the unfrequented bushy pastures, but are often 

 seen about the orchard and door yard, and are 

 quite unsuspecting of danger, allowing a near 

 approach. Their diet is probably strictly in- 

 sectivorous, gleaning mostly from the foliage 

 of the trees, both evergreen and deciduous. 



I hunted long and patiently for a nest, but 

 my search was not rewarded, and I had to give 

 it up with the determination to try again an- 

 other season. 



******* 



I will conclude these reminiscences by telling 

 how I found my first Hawk's nest. Perhaps 

 some other collectors have pleasant recollec- 

 tions of that momentous period in the history 

 of their collecting trips, and I am sure the story 

 would be very interesting if related. 



I was disappointed in finding first sets of 

 Crow's eggs, so on May 21, having an hour or 

 two to spare, just at sunset I started for the 

 pines with the intention of making a rapid 

 canvass of the ten acres included therein, in 

 search of second litters from the ovaries of 

 Corvus. (I may merely state that I didn't get 

 any that time, though I collected a set of five 

 on the 30th. 



Almost as soon as I entered the pine thicket, 

 I saw a good sized bird, which I supposed to be 

 a Hawk scud away through the trees. Says 

 I to myself, "Lookout for a Hawk's nest, my 

 boy!" and sure enough, on going in the direc- 

 tion from which she flew, I saw a nest about 

 25 feet up. I ascended rapidly and viewed 

 with delight the five beautifully marked round 

 eggs which it contained. I had obtained a long 

 desired privilege, that of seeing a set of Hawk's 

 eggs in their natural surroundings. 



While I was packing the eggs in my hat, the 

 birds appeared on the scene, and in their excite- 

 ment, dashed quite close to my head, uttering 

 a shrill squeal — " cha-cha." They would start 

 from some distance away, and head directly 

 towards me, gaining speed as they came, and 

 keeping time with their squeals to the beating 

 of their wings, but they were careful to change 

 their course after approaching within a few 

 feet of me. 



The only weapon I had with me was my 38 

 calibre collecting shot-gun, but I thought I 

 would try it on them. A charge of No. 2 shot 

 had no apparent eft'ect. No. 8 was all I had 

 left (except "dust") so the next time one of 

 them sailed along, I " blazed away,'j and was 

 surprised as well as delighted to see him fall. 



I thought at first it was a Sparrow Hawk but 

 a close comparison with the description proved 

 it to be a Sharp-shinned, and on dissection to be 

 a male. 



Lake Grove, Long Island. 



The White Ibis in South Carolina. 



WALTER HOXIE. 



On the 2d of July the Wood Ibis came; while 

 watching the flock I thought I saw one among 

 them that was pure white. In the evening I 

 took to looking over my record and found that 

 the same thing had occurred in 1885, a single 

 White Ibis seen among a flock of Wood Ibis. In 

 this case I noted " wings tipped with black." 



Still further back (June 30, 1884) I procured 

 an Ibis which I could not then identify. It was 

 plainly a young specimen, dull brown above 

 and white beneath and on the rump. While 

 freshly killed a peculiar reddish flush over- 

 spread the whole plumage, being discernableon 

 the dark parts as well as the white. The speci- 

 men measures 2(i| inches, the wing 12 inches. 



This corresponds very closely with Ridg- 

 way's description of the young plumage of 

 Guam alba and cannot be anything else. He 

 however, does not mention the rosy flush ex- 

 cept in the adult bird. 



