THI-: OO LOG I ST. 



1 1 



since my arrival about tlie middle of 

 April ; and I have scarcely seen him above 

 a half dozen times. The Song Sparrow I 

 have neither seen nor heard during that 

 time ; nor Wilson's Thrush, which is so 

 common in Western New York. 



One of the most common sotmds which 

 reminds me of my change of latitude, is 

 the hoarse croak of the Fish Crow ( V-n-vos 

 ossifvagiis,) which .seems to be much more 

 common than the Common Crow, and so 

 near it in size and in general appearance 

 as to be scarcely distinguishable from it 

 except by its voice. The cheerful whistle 

 of the Cardinal Grosbeak (C. Virginianous,) 

 often sounding as if calling a dog — Prof, 

 liidgeway has seen the dogs run after the 

 iUusion — reminds me, too, that I am faj- 

 ther South. But the gay Cardinal is very 

 shy here, and scarcely lets one have a 

 glimpse of him. In every woods and 

 thicket the monotonous ditty of the Che- 

 wink {P. eryihruplithalums,) almost wears 

 out ones patience. A beautiful nest of five 

 eggs, which I watched closely, was twelve 

 days in hatching. The first plumage ol 

 the young is a beautiful brown edged with 

 lighter, the light breast being linely 

 streaked with darker shades. The win- 

 some song of the Prairie Warbler {D. 

 Jiscolor,) given in the upward slide and 

 bearing quite a resemblance to the song of 

 the Coerulean, is quite common in the 

 breeding .season. I have seen one fine 

 male of the Summer Redbird ( P. aestim,) 

 in a fine hardwood forest. The Catbird 

 {Mineiis L'droUiiensis,) and the Brown 

 Thrush ( Uurporhynchus rvfns,) are abun- 

 dant and as musical as usual. The most 

 common sparrow about the fields and pas- 

 tures is the Yellow- winged ( Cote.niculus 

 passeriniis.) Its song, so much like tht 

 shrilling of an insect, is alniost constantly 

 within hearing of the field laborer. A 

 nest containing five eggs, very closely re- 

 sembKug those of the Field or Bush Spar- 

 row except that they were longer and more 

 coarsely marked with reddish brown, was 

 found the 28d of June. The frail nest of 

 dried grasses was deeply sunken in a hole 

 in the ground and incubation was well ad- 



vanced. The Field Sparrow is also abun- 

 dant, but the Baywing is rather scarce. 

 The Quail seems quite common about the 

 sub>irl)s of the cit3^ They are very fre- 

 quently heard during the breeding season, 

 and I saw a pair in my garden a few weeks 

 since. I have been fortunate this season 

 in being able to observe a Humming Bird's 

 nest through incubation, which lasted 

 fifteen (15) days. The nest was on a small 

 limb of a pine tree in the woods, and some 

 twenty-five feet from the ground. 



A most noticeable species here is the Tur- 

 key Buzzard ( Cathartes aura,) which 

 climbs the sky in such numbers as to be 

 an inseparable part of the landscape. The 

 carcas of any dead animal is carefully 

 watched till it becomes mellow, and then 

 it soon disappears. J. H. Langille. 



CLUTCH. 



What is clutch ; how, and why is it used, 

 and is it properly used ? 



I have noticecT that many collectors use 

 it, but have never been able to ascertain 

 the correctness or origin of the word. 

 AVill some fellow-oologist please enlighten 

 me on this point '? 



While speaking to a collector who does 

 a great deal of foreign exchanging, on this 

 subject, he said that "clutch" is used in 

 England and Germany in the same manner, 

 and instead of our ' ' set. " The etymology 

 of the word in its present meaning is not 

 very clear ; the meaning of clutch, as 

 generally used, is to grasp, and this mean- 

 ning used in an Oological sense would 

 indicate the number of eggs taken from 

 the nest, be they a full or but one thirtieth 



of a complement. 



An enterprising friend thinks that if we 

 need a new word, which we do to use 

 instesid of '•number of eggs taken from 

 nest," that we should have ingenuity 

 enough to manufacture one of our own 

 instead of accepting a mongrel of European 

 origin. 



Would be glad to see some opinion in 

 the next number of The Oologist, also 

 some notes on cabinets, cabinet arrange- 

 ments, and methods of work. 



H. K. L.VNDis, 

 Landis Valle3^ Pa. 



