THE OOLOGIST. 



29 



Intelligence of Birds. 



Having read many interesting articles 

 upon the intelligence of birds, I will relate 

 an instance which came under my personal 

 observation, and the nest now in my pos- 

 session is proof positive to the most skep- 

 tical. 



An Oriole had woven her nest on the end 

 of a very long limb of a maple — all was 

 completed and the eggs laid, when a severe 

 storm overturned the nest and broke the 

 contents. She soon laid another clutch, 

 which shared the fate of the first lot ; a 

 third time she was equally unsuccessful. 

 Seemingly, to examine the position, and de- 

 termine', if possible, a remedy, she flew 

 round the nest for several hours, hopping 

 from branch to branch. About two feet to 

 the right of the nest was a small branch ; 

 the bird flew away, returning later with a 

 quantity of string, which she wove round 

 the branch, then carried the ends to the 

 nest, weaving them in giving the nest the 

 needed support ; laid her eggs and reared 

 her birds, a monument to bird intelligence. 

 — [We very much regret that the writer's 

 name of the above has been mislaid and 

 that we cannot give him due credit. — Ed.] 



Canibalism of the Red-headed Wood- 

 pecker. 



I noticed two interesting incidents last 

 spring connected with a Red-headed Wood- 

 pecker, which may interest the readers of 

 the OoLOGiST. Early iu May I found a 

 nest of this bird containing six eggs, situa- 

 ted in the dead branches of an oak thirty 

 feet high. Near by a Crested Titmouse 

 had industriously carved out his little 

 home, in which he was feeding a nest full 

 of young. 



A few days after, having taken the Wood- 

 pecker's eggs (I needed them for my collec- 

 tion) I was watching the Titmouse's nest to 

 see him feed his little ones, when suddenly 

 the owner of the robbed nest flew down and 

 lit near the entrance to the nest of its neigh- 

 bor, and thrusting his head inside, he de- 

 liberately drew out a young bird, carried 

 it to a branch near by and ate it. He and 



his mate repeated the same action until 

 they had killed the whole brood. After 

 which, having pulled out the lining of the 

 nest, they flew away. This was very sur- 

 prising to me, as I have never heard of 

 AVoodpeckers indulging in canibalism be- 

 fore. But I had not yet done with the ac- 

 tions of the Woodpeckers. A week or so 

 after, having broken up the Crested Tit- 

 mice, I noticed the Red-heads repeatedly 

 visiting the site of their old nest. This 

 aroused my curiosity, and supposing they 

 had decided to lay a new clutch I visited 

 the cavity to see whether my supposition 

 was true. What was my surprise to find 

 that the hollow contained not eggs, but 

 the decaying body of a Great Crested Fly- 

 catcher. How it came there I know not; 

 hut I am fully convinced that the Red- 

 heads vtsited the spot for the purpose of 

 devouring the vermin which infected the 

 decaying flesh. Do you not think my 

 birds are a clever pair, though rather cruel ? 

 L. B. F. 

 Augusta, Ga, 



An Albino Sparro'w. 



Not being very well acquainted with the 

 various kinds of birds, their habits, etc., I 

 write to know if you ever saw a white 

 English Sparrow, and are they common ? 

 Please answer through the columns of 

 your paper. The one I saw has been for 

 some time with a large flock of brown ones 

 in the Court House park, and it is almost a 

 pure white. H. C. B., 



Mexico, Mo. 



From Chenango County. 



Would like to know if usual for the Bal- 

 timore Oriole to get material for building 

 their own nests by robbing the nests of 

 other birds that were building, as I saw one 

 taking from a Chipping Sparrow as fast as 

 they collected. There is a pair of House 

 Wrens building in an old tea-kettle inverted 

 on a post in the garden. Answer through 

 06iiOC4isT if worth it. J. D. S. 



Guilford, N. Y. 



