88 



THE OOLOGIST. 



ities of the various kinds of canaries 

 which one saw in the cages. For in- 

 stance, they declare that the Chinese 

 white canaries, which Mr. Ferond 

 shows, owe their color to a long system 

 of treatment by the Chinamen, which 

 gradually bleached them out after 

 niany generations and left them al- 

 binos. Their forefathers, were yellow, 

 or perhaps green, as are the canaries 

 in their native islands, but by keeping 

 them in a white room, feeding them on 

 white food, and even having their at- 

 tendants clothed in white garments, so 

 that the birds never saw any color ex- 

 cept white, they were gradually made 

 to produce white offspring which now 

 perpetuate that color. The long Bel- 

 gian birds, with down-pointed craning 

 necks, are said to have been produced 

 by keeping their progenitors confined 

 in narrow cages, which forced them al- 

 ways to stand bolt upright and to crane 

 their necks downward to get food and 

 water, and the crescent-shaped birds, 

 the fanciers say, were produced by 

 similar means. One does not have to 

 believe these stories, but one can cer- 

 tainly see some very fine specimens of 

 the various sorts of birds at the show. 

 No dealer is allowed to belong to the 

 association, and its purposes are to 

 spread a knowledge of the breeding 

 and care of cage birds among New 

 Yorkers. — American Field. 



A Discovery. 



While passing through a wet ash 

 swamp on June 14th, 1895, I observed a 

 Chickadee leave a hole in a small stub 

 about eight feet from the ground. 

 Reaching the opening, 1 gently removed 

 the bark and wood until I could see into 

 the cavity. There on a bed of rabbit- 

 fur and moss lay a single fresh egg of 

 the Chickadee. On I'emoving the nest 

 I was surprised at the thickness of the 

 material, but on dividing the nest I 

 found another fresh egg. This led to 



further experiment the result of which 

 was that I discovered a set of six eggs, 

 all fresh, each one being separated from 

 the next by a layer of nest material (fur 

 and moss). What was the bird's object? 

 R. T. Anderson, 

 Aylmer, Ont. 



Stray Cardiuals. 



On December 4th saw a male and fe- 

 male Cardinal Grosbeak in the brush 

 bordering the Bronx River in Wakefield, 

 N. Y. City. Never saw any of these 

 birds here befoie at any time of the 

 year. Thomas Cokrigan. 



Xmas Bargains in Books, 



Until Jan. 1st I offer the following 

 books and publicationsprepaw/at prices 

 quoted : 



Davies "Egg Check List," 2d '86 edi- 

 tion ($1.00) 85c. 



Davies "Naturalists Manual" (75c) 35c. 



Cook's "Birds of Michigan," (75c) 50c. 



Louck's Life History of Distribution 

 of the Prothonotary Warbler in Illinois," 

 (50c) 20c. 



Short's "Birds of Western New York," 

 (25c) 10c. 



"Penikese." (3oc) 25c. 



Lattin's "Egg Catalogue," (25c) 10c. 



"Nidiologist," 25 back numbers, all 

 different, including the three specials," 

 ($3 00) $1.25. 



"Natural Science News," 52 back 

 numbers, ($1.00) 50c. 



"OoLOGiiT," 50 back numbers ($2.00 

 $1.00. 



Davies' "Methods in the Art of Tax- 

 idermy," ($10.00) $5.00. 



Or I will send the entire lot by Ex- 

 press or Freight at purchaser's expense 

 for only $6.00. 



Frank H. Lattin, 



Albion N. Y. 



THE OOLOGIST 



A FULL YEAR FOR 



ONLY 25 CENTS. 



If you do not care to accept the .50c premium 

 offer "made in this issue we will until further 

 notice accept subscriptions at S.oC each and In 

 addition mail each accepting the offer a coupon 

 good for a 2o woi-d Exchange Notice, free. Ad- 

 dress plainly, FRANK H. LATTIN, Publisher. 

 Albion, N. Y. 



