THE OOLOGIST. 



for about two cents apiece, or if you have 

 a glass cutter, ■which are quite common 

 now, you can cut them yourself just so as 

 to fit inside of the box and rest on parti- 

 tions ; put some cotton in each partition, 

 arrange the eggs to suit you, place in the 

 glass, close the lid and they are away from 

 the light, which we all know fades them if 

 left in the light; and so you can p/ick them 

 awa}' as snug as a " brick." I have a great 

 many boxes packed away, thus keeping 

 the different varities of the same family in 

 the same box, where one box will hold 

 them, otherwise in two or as many as are 

 required to do so ; and yet I can set them 

 out, canted up a little on edge with lid 

 turned back and make about as pretty a 

 display for the number of eggs I have as 

 any of them, I think. Hoping to hear 

 from others in regard to how they manage 

 their collections, 1 remain, 



Fraternally j'ours, 



R. D. Goss, 

 New Sharon, la. 



Nest of the Black and White Creeper. 



This species, belonging to the family of 

 the warblers, generally frequents the mar- 

 gins of the woods, in low, swampy places, 

 where from the crevices of the bark of 

 trees it gleams its food of insects and their 

 larvjB ; and from its peculiar manner of 

 creeping or leaping up and around the 

 trunks of standing timber, it has received 

 the name^.of Creeper, though in other re- 

 spects it has little relationship with the 

 other species known as the "Brown 

 Creeper." In gener-il it does not ascend 

 high up the trees, like the brown species, 

 and nuthatches, but usually pursues its 

 food-hunting operations near the ground. 

 Its common note is a sharp '"chip," and 

 its song a repetition of a few simple notes, 

 uttered in a low but pleasing warble. The 

 plumage on the upper parts of the body 

 consists of alternate bars of white and 

 dusty black ; there is white on the throat 

 and under parts, and the head of the male 

 is marked with a yellow strip on the crown 

 and over each eye ; in length it is over four 



inches. It arrives in Canada about the 

 middle of May, and nests toward the end 

 of that month. On the 18th of June last, 

 when putting up some fence on my farm, 

 one of these birds flushed from my feet, 

 darted through the rails of the fence and 

 disappeared, without uttering a note or 

 pau.sing to see what fate might befall its 

 possession. I soon discovered the nest, 

 which contained five young about a week 

 old. It was placed on the ground among 

 the leaves with a few twigs bending over 

 it, and near to and under the shelter of a 

 fence stake, over which was the spreading 

 branches of a beech tree, and formed of 

 leaves, rootlets and hair. A few feet off 

 was a gap in the fence where cattle and 

 sheep had daily passed, and where the 

 fence had just been taken down and was 

 being put up, and yet the nest had not been 

 crushed nor the bird flushed, and not until 

 the side of the nest had been actually trod- 

 den upon had she left her charge. An 

 hour or so afterwards I looked at the nest 

 again. The mother bird was seated upon 

 it, and although I was within arms length 

 of her she did not leave, but her little black 

 eyes twinkled as she looked up at me like 

 stars on a frosty night. She had doubtless 

 often seen me before and regarded me as a 

 friend, although I was not aware of her 

 existence or that of her nest. In the eve- 

 ning when passing I noticed with regret 

 that the cattle had trampled on the nest, 

 and the brood were cold and dead. 



This was the fourth nest of this species 

 that I had observed in this locality, but 

 the other three were in the roots of fallen 

 trees, in a low, woody place. One of 

 these also contained four young the other 

 two, eggs, one a set of four, the other of 

 five. Of the set of five eggs in my collec- 

 tion, 1 note that they are a little larger 

 than those of the yellow warbler, of a 

 white hue, irregularly dotted toward the 

 large end witn brown spots, two of them 

 having the large end covered with brown. 

 In my "notes" for this year I note that 

 this species was first observed be my on 

 the 13th of May. Wm. R. Keli,s, 



Listowel, Canada. 



