THE OOLOGIST. 



Koud ill their onlers at ouce, even if for ouly 

 f)()c. Renieuiber that every order iimuIhI 

 ou or before March llth is oounted iu the 

 competition. 



Collecting Experience. 



BY " AVIS. ' 



I thought that ft few uotes of tiie collect- 

 ing experience iu the HUiumer of '88 from 

 an active oologist might prove interesting 

 to the readers of the Oolocust and so was 

 prompted to write this arti<;le. 



One of 1-arest sets (in this neighborhood) 

 taken by the writer, was one of the BUick 

 Snowbird, (</;/.« w ^^^m;?/*). I was coming 

 hume across the fields after a long day's 

 jaunt, tired, but rich in oological specimens, 

 when a leaden hued bird flew frcm a bush 

 in front of me, which, upon scruitiny; was 

 found to contain a neat nest, familiar to 

 me as one this species from the many 

 envious glances cast on one, which, with 

 the clutch, adorned a rival collection. I 

 took a close look at the bird to make 

 very sure and then at a magniticeut set 

 of 5 little browu-spotted eggs reposing in 

 the grass-lined cavitj'. That was the ouly 

 set I have ever secured. I have ofteu 

 seen the birds during nesting season: 

 I also fouud five sets of Chestnut-sided 

 Warbler and two sets of Brown Thrasher, 

 which makes four nests of the latter noted 

 in this locality by me. The only other 

 species I will note is the Green Heron 

 { Butoridfs vire«r4ins) My friend and collect- 

 ing companion, W. C, and myself fouud 

 a herouy on Wood Island, from which 

 we got eight sets and have obtained forty, 

 had we been so disposed. The nests 

 were placed at altitude of 8 to 40 ft.; 

 avei'age 25. We noted 13 nests placed 

 in bushes, mostly old ones, however. The 

 eggs are too well known, to require 

 description, but I can assure the reader 

 that it was a sufficient I3' joyful oceasiou 

 for me, at least, when I took the first 

 set of four great beauties from the rou^h 

 tenement in which they reposed; and, 

 hoping the readers of the Oologist all 

 success duriug the coming season, I close 

 this brief article. Raco, Me. 



A Bed-tail Hawk's Nest. 



On the 27th of last April, ('88), while 

 walking through s")me heavy woods, I 

 uoticcd a nest iu a large oak tree with some- 

 thing like a tail sticking over the side. As 

 hitting on the tree with a fence rail did not 

 produce any result, I fired at the nest, when 

 immediately a Red-tail Hawk flew off, so I 

 knew there must be something there. 



With the aid of climbers, I was soon uj) 

 to the nest, which was, as usual, a large 

 mass of twigs, liued with moss. It was 

 about two feet iu circumference and con- 

 tained one egg. When I shook this to see 

 if incubation had commenced, it cracked; 

 and afterwards, in blowing, I found that 

 the egg was rotten. 



This seems very strange to me, as I don't 

 remember eVer having seen any other bird 

 sitting so determinedly on a rotten egg. 



Can any of the readers of the Oologist 

 offer an explanation ? 



W. E. P., Lake Forest, 111. 



The Story of a Tame Crow. 



While jjassing through a piece of wOods 

 in ihe spring of 1887, the writer discovered 

 a nest containing five young crows, one of 

 which he brought home fi r a pet . 



Duriug the first few weeks of our 

 ac'inaintance. Grip (be was named after 

 Dicken's famous raven) divided his time 

 pretty evenly between squaking and eatiug. 

 His appetite was simply marvelons: he 

 never seemed to have enough : after he had 

 been filled so full that the last pellet of 

 meal was not quite out of sight, he would 

 still quiver his wings and feebly call for 

 more. 



Wheii Grip became fully feathered and 

 had learned to fly. he was taught to come 

 when called and alight on hand or shoulder: 

 on his appearance he was generally reward- 

 ed with something to eat, and when hungry 

 he often took this method of making his 

 wants known. 



When Grip had learned to forage for 

 himself he spent many hours in the garden 

 picking ujT ants, spiders aud other insects; 

 he liked earth-worms the best of all aud the 

 writer's appearance, hoe in hand, w:ts 



