5logi??ti 





MARCH, 1878. 



h 



No. I. 



LINES TO THE MEADOW LAEK. 



L FIELD bird free, would I with thee 



1, Thy liberty could share, 



J! And '»\ng and lly, mid earth and sky, 



With naught for me to care ; 

 How love I thy sweet strain to hear 



From 3'on j^rass-covered knoll ; 

 It sounds as though thj^ freedom, were 



Echoed from thy very soul. 

 Thou'rt free to roam, for thy wild home 



Is in the meadows broad ; 

 Thy grassy nest on yon knoll's crest, 



Thou conceal'st from man abroad. 

 But when the j^ear, approaches near 



Its cold and wintry end. 

 And meadows sear are bare and drear : 



Then lield bird, thou must haste to 

 spend 

 Thy winter in a warmer clime. 



Nesting Habits of the Black-and- 

 White Creeper( Mniotilta varia). 



^^/#ONTRARY to the rule among our 

 ■ If j Warblers, tliis species has a breed- 

 ^ ing rauge apparently co-extensive 

 with its North American habitat," which 

 embraces the whole country east of Kansas. 

 Audubon relates that he found it breeding 

 in Texas and Louisiana, one nest being "in 

 the prong of a broken limb not more than 

 ten feet from the ground," and others in 

 holes in trees. Nuttall saw a nest near 

 Boston, "niched in the shelving of a rock, 

 on the surface of the ground." Dr. Brew- 

 er states, that, so far as he knows, it al- 

 ways builds on the ground, but mentions a 

 nest found in the drain of a house at Bat- 

 ternits, New York, which was 8i inches in 

 external diameter, 2^ inches in internal, and 

 with a cavity one inch deep ; composed ex- 

 ternally of coarse hay, and compactly lined 



with horse-hair. Mr. Nuttall's nest was 

 of coarse strips of inner bark, mixed with 

 old leaves and grass, and lined with hair. 

 Mr. Burroughs describes a nest " upon the 

 ground at the foot of a stump," where the 

 color of the young harmonized perfectly 

 with the bits of bark, sticks, etc., lying 

 about. 



This bird, then, seems to build upon the 

 ground a neat and compact nest of vegeta- 

 ble substances, which is sometimes arched 

 above like that of the Golden-crowned 

 Thrush, but which is usually protected by 

 an overhanging rock or log. They meas- 

 ure about three inches in external diameter 

 and are equally deep. In New England 

 the eggs are laid by the middle of May. 

 They " vary in shape from a rounded 10 an 

 oblong oval, and in size from .G*J to .75 of 

 an inch in length, and from .51 to .53 of 

 an inch in breadth. Their ground color is 

 a creamy-white, to which the deep red 

 markings impart an apparently pinkish 

 tinge. They are marked more or less pro- 

 fusely with bright red dots, points and 

 blotches. These vary in number and dis- 

 tribution. In some they are very fine, and 

 are chiefly confined to the larger end. In 

 others they are lai'ger, more diffused and 

 occasi(jnally there are intei-mitigled marks 

 and blotches of slate-color. The effect of 

 these variations is, at times, to give the ap- 

 pearance of greater differences to these eggs 

 than really exists, the ground color and the 

 shade of the red markings really presenting 

 but little modification." 



These Creepers feed their young with 

 zealous and affectionate attention, carrying 

 them smooth caterpillars, ants and the like 

 in the presence of spectators without alarm 

 so long as the nestlings are untouched. But 

 if any interference is attempted, the parents 



