THE OOLOGIST 



83 



here a perfect Babel of music greeted our 

 ears. The loud " teacher " of the Golden- 

 crowned Thrush, and the clear song of the 

 Indigo Bird could be distinguished ; higher 

 up ou the hill we heard the loud song of 

 tlie Rose-breasted Grosbeak, — not one but 

 a dozen or more. Nearer the outskirts, like 

 a gleam of fire among the trees, sat a Scar- 

 let Tanager ; in the trees we heard the 

 plaintive note of the Wood Pewee ; flitting 

 liere and there in the tree-tops and in the 

 bushes were a great variety of wood War- 

 blers. Everywhere we turned we could 

 see the bright colors and hear the clear 

 songs of some feathered treasure, and we 

 spent the day wandering along the hill, shoot- 

 ing the birds here and there as we needed 

 them, or sitting on some mossy bank list- 

 ening to the beautiful and varied songs. 

 We flushed the Ruffed Grouse from her 

 smoothly lined nest wherein lay twelve 

 eggs, winch we left that we might enjoy 

 the shooting in the fall. We frightened 

 the Crow off her nest in several instances, 

 and the Grass Finch and Song Sparrow 

 from theirs in the clearing. And thus we 

 wandered until late in the afternoon, when 

 we brought up at our starting place. 



Here we reviewed the result of our ram- 

 ble. Carefully unwrapping the birds, we 

 laid them down beside one another, and 

 found we had the following species : Rose- 

 breasted Grosbeak, Guiraca ludoviciana ; 

 Scarlet Tanager, Fyranga rubra ; Canada 

 Flycatcher, Myiodiodes canadensis ; Black- 

 buruian Warbler, Dendroeca blackburniw ; 

 Black-throated Green Warbler, D. virens ; 

 Black-tliroated Blue Warbler, D. canaden- 

 sis ; Yellow-rumped, D. coronata ; Mourn- 

 ing, Geothlypis j^hiladelphia ; Black-poll, 

 D. striata ; and Chestnut-sided Warblers, 

 D. pennsylvanica ; Redstart, Setophaga 

 ruticilla ; Black-and-White Creeper, Mni- 

 otilta varia ; Golden-crowned Tlirush, Siu- 

 rus auricajjillus ; Wood Thrush, Turdus 

 vMstelinus ; Nashville, Hehninthophaga ru- 

 ficapilla ; and Blue Warblers, D. ccerulea, 

 besides many commoner species. We saw 

 some varieties which we did not shoot, not 

 needinjr them. Of some of the birds men- 



tioned we had several specimens. 



Putting our horse to the buggy we rode 

 home in the light of the setting sun, much 

 fatigued though well satisfied with our day's 

 ramble. This is only one of many pleas- 

 ant days I have spent in this way, but 

 never have I found the birds so plentiful as 

 ou that bright spring day of 1874. 



The Caracara Eagle. — This bird, 

 known as Audubon's Caracara, inhabits 

 the middle portions of America from Cuba, 

 whence its place southward is taken by the 

 true Caracara, to the sojithern portions of 

 the United States, extending along their 

 border from Mexico to Florida. Its union 

 with its more southern ally, of which itself, 

 according to the best authors, is merely a 

 variety, may be said to be in Central Amer- 

 ica. The specimens of eggs in possession 

 of various naturalists seem to confirm the 

 belief in two distinct forms, though author- 

 ities have hitherto considered the existence 

 of but one species. The Caracara is nei- 

 ther an Eagle or a Vulture, and yet is both ; 

 its structure and much of its outward ap- 

 pearance claim a place for it among the 

 Falconidce ; while its sluggish, undeter- 

 mined, negligent mien, together with its 

 propensity for feeding upon carrion an<l 

 gorging itself until scarcely able to move, 

 brand it as but little if any superior to the 

 Vultures in these respects. Its habits are 

 interesting because they show so many con- 

 flicting traits ; — while one must readily ad- 

 mit the indolent bearing, combined with 

 two or three marked external features as 

 typical of the Vulture, there is still some- 

 thing in its appearance which shows it to 

 be not entirely the scavenger a Buzzard is 

 — a combination of features which have 

 suggested the name of Vulture-eagle. Ac- 

 cording to Darwin, however, this bird of- 

 ten shows activity, being sometimes quite 

 fierce, and certainly the aspect of the head 

 and form of the beak indicate aquiline fea- 

 tures which are hard to overlook in spite 

 of its ignoble habits. 



