184 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol 7-No. 23 



lively until the cook came d'o^ii and started 

 the fire, when, as the smoke poured ouf, 

 the birds left. Wei], thinks I, you have 

 given that up as a bad job ; but next morn- 

 ing they were at work as hard as ever. I 

 waited for about ten days when the cook 

 eomiilaiued that the fire did not seem to 

 work right. >• It didn't driw," she said. 

 I went on the roof and took off the stone 

 and looked in. The chinniey is not a 

 straight one, but has what the masons call 

 a " dnxw off" in it. On that le Ige, as you 

 might say, they had began their nest and 

 had finally nearly filled up the whole space 

 in the chimney. In one corner was the 

 nest as natural as Hfe. I took a long 

 wooden rake and carefully brought up and 

 out the whole structure, and, if you will 

 believe me, there was material enough to 

 fill a half-bushel measure. 



I notice your remarks on " Coe's Str lin" 

 in October number. Had the* usual luck 

 this Spring. Although I have had little 

 time, I have managed to take the Great- 

 homed and Ban-ed Owls, a bemtiful set 

 of Sparrow Hawks, Red-heade.l Wood- 

 pecker, fine nest of White-bellied Nut 

 Hatches, and a few others of less account. 



Took a Chipping Sparrow's nest with 

 one of her eggs and one Cow Bunting's in 

 it. The Sparrow had built over the top 

 of the nest a perfect net work of horse 

 hair, same as the lining of the nest, and 

 so nicely that although one could see the 

 eggs plainly it could be turned " bottom 

 side up" and the eggs not fall out. I never 

 saw this before in Chipping Sparrows' 

 nests. " I put 'em in the bag" with the 

 rest. Have a fine sjieciraen of a chicken 

 which I mounted a few days ago — perfect 

 in every way except that he has four legs. 

 What a sweet thing he would be in an early 

 garden. I have a Martin box on a jiole 

 some fifteen feet high. The Martins came 

 in the Spring and stayed a few days and 

 then for some reason best known to them- 

 selves left. A pair of Eobius at once took 

 possession and built a nest m one of the 



compartments, and when finished the old 

 lady sat (?) set (?) sot (?) with her head out 

 of the front window, showing that she was 

 "at home." 



But the sweetest of all this year is this : 

 T\Tien I built an addition to my horse bam 

 I was obliged to cut down an old cherrj' 

 tree, which I did, leaving a stump some six 

 feet high, into which I placed a ring to 

 hitch my horses to. One morning I no- 

 ticed a piir of Chickadees at work on the 

 stump, and I gave them !ny closest atten- 

 tion. My man hitched the horses to this 

 stump every morning as he cleaned them 

 off, and although the horses' heads were 

 within a foot of their hole they kept at 

 work and finally laid their eggs and brought 

 forth the young ivi good order. By the 

 aid of a niiiTor I threw the light into the 

 hole, so that I could see all that was going 

 on. They began work April 27th, carried 

 in nesting material May 10th, began set- 

 ting May ITth. hatched M:iy 26tli, and the 

 young flew June 12th. What I notice in 

 this as singular is the fact that we usually 

 find these liirds breeding in the thickest of 

 swamps and almost always in white birch 

 stumps ; and that they should come into 

 the ojien and so close to the liouse, and 

 more : they worked most systematically, 

 each working and taking out chips. One ■ 

 would cnrry awiy the cliij] that he (or she) 

 had pecked out and fly to a pear tree near by 

 and " wipe" it off her bill, when the other 

 would at ouce go in and go to work. They 

 did it so regularly that, as one went out of 

 the hole the other met it about half way 

 between tlie pear and cherry tree. — • W. 

 W. (Joe, Portland, Ct. 



August Eggs. — W. F. Biker, Savanah, 

 Ga., re]5orts finding a fresh egg of the 

 Mourning Dove, Aug. 31st. 



September Eggs. — Sandford Ritchie, 

 White's Corner, Me., rejjorts finding five 

 fresli eggs of the American Goldfinch, 

 Sept. 5th. 



Black-billed Cuckoo's Nest, with two 

 young bii-ds, at the same time. 



