156 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 7-No. 20 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



—AND— 



OOLOGIST. 



A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO 

 THE 6TUDT OP BIRDS, THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 



JOS. M. WADE, EDITOR, 



With the co-operation of able Ornithological 

 Writers and Collectors. 



Subscription — $1.00 per annum. Foreign subscnp- 



tion $1.25 — including postage, Specimeti 



Copies Ten Cents. 



JOS. M. WADE, Norwich, Conn. 



EDITORIAL. 



Late Notes. — Prof. Ward, of Rochester, 

 has purchased the collection of 7-48 bird 

 skins cmied by J. J. Audubon at the time 

 of liis death. Southwick & Jencks have 

 made f^reat efiorts to replenish their stock 

 for the coming season — both members of 

 the fimi having made long excursions for 

 tlie purpose, — 1,400 eggs were expected in 

 one day. Dr. Wm. Wood sent to Jno. H. 

 Sage a Bald Eagle that had been feeding 

 on putrid fish — an excellent present when 

 the thermometer was trying to reach 100 

 and nearly succeeded. 



Savannah Sparrow (Passercuhis sand- 

 wichenKis Savanna, Wils.) Rkhpn. We 

 presume it is the long name that drives 

 this modest little Sparrow away from civil- 

 ization do^vn to the sea shore and adjacent 

 islands where it breeds. We had never 

 seen to recognize this bird until the pres- 

 ent Summer, when, with a friend, we vis- 

 ited Plum Island, on the eastern end of 

 L. I. While tramping over the ground a 

 female Sparrow was flushed from the nest, 

 which was supposed to be a Song Sparrow, 

 but the nest was lined entirely with grass. 

 This raised our suspicion at once. Wlien 

 the field glass was brought to hear on the 

 bird, which was not a Song Sparrow, 

 but more striped, and the stripes more 

 prominent and the actions of the bird was 

 different. It kept on or near the ground 

 on very low buslies. Its song was 

 feeble and not that of the Song Sparrow. 



The eggs, too, which were fresh, were dif- 

 ferent, being more rounded and the brown 

 blotches longer. The ground color was 

 lighter and not so much on the greenish 

 blue order as the Song Sparrow. After 

 identifying this bird we saw many pairs of 

 them breeding on the Island and found 

 another nest, which was in an almost bare 

 pastui'e in a vei-y slim tuft of grass. This 

 bird remained on the nest, so that we 

 could get very close to her and study her 

 markings as much as we cared for. The 

 first nest was also on the gi-ound in the 

 long, thin, coarse grass, incident to a 

 s.indy plain. 



Brief Newsy Notes. 



Botany and Ornithology are kindred 

 sciences and to give the best results should 

 be studied together. "WTiat a world of 

 pleasure the true lover of nature derives 

 from these two sciences. 



A Text. — •' A bird shot with the glass 

 is forever alive and fixed in the mind, and 

 many little ways and habits have been 

 noted, which would have been entirely lost 

 if shot in the usual manner." — G. R. C. 



Late Nesting. — We have in our posses- 

 sion a Song Sparrow's nest and eggs which 

 we took at Oecum, Conn., Aug. 20, 1881. 

 The eggs were quite fresh. We should be 

 pleased to hear from collectors with the 

 latest records of the present season. 



Botany is the background to ornithol- 

 ogy. Where is the author that will give 

 us a series of articles entitled " The Bot- 

 any OF Birds" Nests." When this is thor- 

 oughly done it will probably give us a key 

 to positive idendity from the nest alone 

 without destrojang the bird. One of the 

 strangest things in nature is that a nest 

 of young birds will wing their way to the 

 South and return to the place of their 

 liirth and build a nest of the same mate- 

 rials, the same shape and location their 

 parents did before. In this lies a life 

 work for some disciple of Gilbert White 

 to work out. 



