THE OSPREY. 



19 



after being- beheaded, when they can reasonably 

 be considered dead. 



Of the many things that may be said of this 

 much slandered little bird, its watchfulness and 

 daring- are not among- the least. It quickly dis- 

 cerns an unusual or unwelcome intruder on its 

 domain, and its loud "Quay, quay, quay" never 

 fails to call other birds to its assistance, where 

 with concerted action, in darting at, and peck- 

 ing its head, it seldom if ever fails to drive the 

 intruder, though it be a larg'-e hawk, or rabbit 

 even, in quest of more cong-enial quarters. At 

 one time several of these birds clustered about a 

 clump of low saw palmetto bushes, fluttering-, 

 calling- and seeming- very much agitated. On 

 searching- for the cause of their trouble, we 

 found it to be a stra^' white cat, which they had 

 harassed, until it had soug^ht to shield itself 

 from their attacks by hiding- beneath the low 

 spreading" leaves. 



Atiother specialty of their sharp-seeing- eyes is 

 the snake. As soon as a snake is discovered, no 

 matter how large it is, a wild alarm is g-iven, and 

 the birds, including- often the mocking bird, 

 (the two, are never so friendly as when arrayed 

 against a common animal), and sometimes the 

 blue jay, collect about it, uniting^ their voices in 

 general condemnation, and fluttering over and 

 around it, make the most frantic efforts to drive 

 it away. The snakes that we have destroyed, 

 which have been discovered through their assist- 

 ance, can probably be numbered by the dozens. 

 Individually, they will attack smaller snakes. 

 A few mornings ago I noticed a bird on a 

 branch of an orang-e tree quite close to the 

 ground. It was busily engag-ed, its movements 

 -seeming to indicate that it was building a nest. 

 I was surprised that it had chosen a location so 

 near the ground. Approaching nearer it flew 

 away, and on investigating further I found that 

 it had only been taking its morning- meal; as 

 two or three inches of a small snake were yet 

 pendant from the large thorn which had pierced 

 its head. 



These birds take kindly to civilization, and 

 will often follow the plow, picking insects from 

 the fresh turned soil. When removing an old 

 board or rail pile, or raking leaves and trash, a 

 soft "Kloodle, kloodle, kloodle" of inquiry is a 

 sure sign that our little friend is at hand, and on 

 the lookout, and it will alight, almost at one's 

 feet, in order to secure the cricket or beetle that 

 seems liable to make its escape. 



They often build in orange or lime trees quite 

 near the house, or in the low oaks surrounding 



the fields, their nests seldom being lower than 

 five feet from the g-round, and often two or three 

 times that distance. 



Their nests, which are rather large, are well 

 built, chiefiy of the abundant long gray moss, 

 on a foundation of coarse sticks, lined with fine 

 fibrous grass roots and other soft substances. 

 The eggs, which are five in number, are of a 

 lig-ht ashy gTay in color, specked and blotched 

 with brown, the blotches almost covering the 

 larger end of the e'^g. 



Baily, in "Our Own Birds", says that, "dur- 

 ing the summer season, the Gra}' Shrike retires 

 to the more northern or mountainous regions, 

 for the purpose of incubation". This, I think, 

 is incorrect, as the (iray Shrike remains with 

 us, here in Florida just south of 28° north lat- 

 itude, ever}' day in the year, and hatches, at 

 least, two broods of young during the season. 



The first nest building begins about the first 

 of March, each year. One 3'ear, .some particu- 

 larly tame birds, that had been fed considerably, 

 built in a small lime tree near the house, and as 

 soon as their young were fledged, they were 

 marshaled across the intervening space, and 

 took position in a line on the railing of the 

 front porch; and, there, in the whole company', 

 seven in number including the parents, would 

 unite in a loud and prolonged "Chee, chee, 

 chee", rightly divining that the desired food 

 would, if for no other reason than to hush their 

 discordant noise, be forthcoming. At that time, 

 large herds of cattle were driven farther into the 

 woods; consequently, our windows were filled 

 with large, buzzing flies, which had been left 

 behind, so the needs of the feathered family 

 were easily supplied. They would also eat bits 

 of raw beef or venison, and sometimes a little 

 boiled beef or sweet potato. By this method the 

 parents saved themselves much labor, as they 

 had only to pick the food from the floor, and 

 put it into the youngsters' mouths. Right here, 

 I may mention" an incident, true of the young of 

 insect-eating birds, at least, which I learned at 

 this time, and that may be new to some others. 

 It is this: the hard shells of beetles, legs of 

 grasshoppers, and other indigestible food, do 

 not seem to pass beyond the craw of the bird, 

 and when that organ becomes overloaded, the 

 bird would close its eyes, and appear drowsy 

 for a few moments, then open its broad mouth, 

 give a little reactionary gulp, and deposit the 

 compact ball of indigestible compound on the 

 floor, and was, at once, ready again to cater to 

 its voracious appetite. 



PECULIAR NESTING OF THE HOODED MERGANSER. 

 By Gi.EN Rinker, Unionville, Missouri. 



For several years I have noticed that a few 

 Hooded Mergansers spent the summer on a 

 small lake east of Unionville, Missouri, but 

 could never find their nest, initil June 23, 1898. 

 The young could be seen through the month of 

 August, but were very hard to be found, as the 

 lake was in the timber, and full of dead trees 

 and snags. A person could pass within 50 yards 

 of them sitting on a snag or in the water by the 

 side of a log, and not see them without he was 

 looking very close. On the day mentioned, I 



was sitting by the side of the lake watching a 

 pair of females, when one of them raised and 

 flew within 20 feet of my head. I was "all 

 eyes" when she alighted on a snag about fifty 

 yards back from me, and I noticed it looked 

 down the hollow several times. I attempted to 

 get closer, but she saw me and flew away. I 

 then proceeded to examine the snag. It was 

 about two feet in diameter and 10 feet high; the 

 top was hollowed out to a depth of about two 

 feet, and looked charred as though it had been 



