26 



THE OOLOGIST. 



Correspondence. 



FROM MISSOURI. 



I send you a few extracts from my notes 

 for January and Februaiy, 1885: Jan. 1st. 

 — Some people where I am in the country 

 have placed a wide board outside the win- 

 dow on which they put crumlis and bran, 

 and all the Mduter l)irds come and feed ; 

 among them I notice, Downy, Hairy and 

 Red-bellied Wood-peckers, Elack-capped 

 Chickadees, Snow Buntings, Black Snow- 

 birds, Blue Jays, Nut-hatches. Feb. 6. — In 

 a twenty mile drive saw nothing new ex- 

 cept a few Long-spurs. Feb. 8. — Saw the 

 first Shore Lariis, a small flock ; saw a 

 Rough-legged Hawk. Feb. 10. — Saw a 

 flock of Goldfinches, the first this winter ; 

 a Robin perched in a tree in the yard and 

 sang as merry as if it was May. Feb. 13. 

 — Bird life is at a standstill except that 

 Shore Larks are getting plenty. Feb. 15. — 

 Birds are getting noisy, Crows, Jays and 

 Wood-peckers are making love ; heard one 

 Blue-bird to-day. Feb. 20. — Blue-birds are 

 plenty this morning. Shore Larks in flocks. 

 Feb. 34. — Blue-birds have thinned out some, 

 gone farther North probably. Saw the 

 first Tit-mice, also a flock of (about 20) 

 Cedar Wax-wings ; also five Passenger 

 Pigeons. Wild Geese have been flying- 

 north for the last few days ; weather warm 

 and raining. M. C, 



Wayland, Mo. 



LATE KESTIXC4. 



Following are a few examples of late 

 nesting in this locality, Southwestern Ohio, 

 season of 1885 : 



Aug. 30 — Y. B. Cuckoo, 3 fre.sh eggs. 

 Aug. 22 — Am. Goldfinch, 4 young, just 

 hatched. Aug. 15. — Chewiuk, three fresh 

 eggs ; Am. Goldfinch, 5 eggs ; Y. B. 

 C'uckoo, 4 eggs. Aug. 7. — Lidigo Bird, 

 3 eggs ; Chewink, 2 eggs. Aug. 6. — 

 Wood Pewee, 2 large young ; Indigo 

 Bunting. 2 eggs. Aug. 5. — Cardinal Gros- 

 beak, 2 young ; Bluebird, 4 fresh eggs. 

 H. A. Koch. 



MY CABINET. 



I saw in the last number of the Oologist 

 a communication from R. D. Goss, in i-e- 

 gard to cabinets, and as that is a subject 

 which has interested me a great deal I will 

 take the liberty of describing mine, and 

 should be glad to hear from anyone else 

 that may have any suggestions to ofCer. 

 M}^ cabinet is a thread case like the dry 

 goods merchants keep spool thread in ; it 

 has nine drawers, three 24x15 inches, and 

 six 12x15 inches. I have them full of 

 trays, small trays for sets of small eggs, and 

 large trays for sets of large eggs. The 



trays are lined with colored cotton, the 

 printed name and number pasted on the 

 inside, and then the egus put in the num- 

 bers are arranged successively so that it is 

 very easy to find any one that may be 

 wanted ; then the data blanks are filled out 

 to correspond and placed so I can get to 

 them easil3^ Now, if anyone has any- 

 thing better to offer let them come forward 

 and help brother Goss and myself out. 

 W. W. Westgate, 



Houston, Texas. 



A beheaded quail. 

 While a friend of mine in Iowa was cut- 

 ting his grain with a mowing machine he 

 ran over a quail's nest without knowing it, 

 and when the men who were raking came 

 up they found the nest with the beheaded 

 quail still sitting on her eggs. This goes 

 to show the natural instinct of these birds 

 to keep quiet even when a person is quite 

 near their nest. AYill P. Chase, 



Medina, N. Y. 



NESTS OF GREAT CRESTED FLYCATCHER AND 

 WOOD THRUSH. 



While in the central-eastern part of New 

 Jersey last June, as I was passing through 

 an old apple orchard, I chanced to notice 

 a round hole about four inches in diameter 

 in one of the trees. Thinking it might 

 contain some oological treasure I thrust m3'' 

 hand in about ten inches and was agreea- 

 bly surprised to feel two eggs. I then 

 took one out and examined it. The 

 ground work was almost buff and was pro- 

 fusely marked with purplish-red and brown 

 blotches. The nest consisted of some soft 

 material and dried grass, and was nearly 

 flat. As far as I could ascertain the bird 

 appeared to be chiefly brown, and its head 

 was ornamented with a quite conspicuous 

 crest. The nest was so low that I could 

 easily reach it from the ground. 



One morning in the latter part of June, 

 as my cousin and I were rambling through 

 some swampy ground bent on the destruc- 

 tion of some "chip iTiOnks " which had 

 evaded us, I chanced to notice a nest, 

 which was placed horizontally upon a tree 

 which had in some way been bent over, 

 and I climbed up the trunk and bent it 

 down still farther so that my cousin could 

 reach the nest. The bird allowed itself to 

 be caught without any apparent fear. It 

 Avas about the size of a cat-bird and was 

 chiefly brown. Its breast was drab and 

 was marked with round black dots, which 

 were set at intervals upon it. Its head was 

 nearly flat and the bill was about, three- 

 quarters of an inch in length. The eggs 

 were a bluish-green and were a little 

 smaller than a robin's. There were four of 



