THE OOLOGIST. 



35 



tice for collecting birds' eggs and securing 

 birds, rare or otherwise, for taxiderniic 

 skill. 



On my return trips, after visiting tlie 

 sick in the county, I am never in such a 

 haste during the collecting season but that 

 the sight of a nest in a tree, bush* hedge or 

 bunch of grass will cause me to alight from 

 my buggy or saddle and investigate, and 

 the superb beauties that adorn my cabinet 

 as a result, are the admiration and delight 

 of all who see them. 



But it was in my mind when I com- 

 menced this article to tell something about 

 my experience in capturing the egg of the 

 Red-tailed Hawk. In one of my rides, 

 about the 9th of April, I discovered a very 

 large nest in the top of a tree, a quarter of 

 a mile from the highway, and riding 

 through the wood to the tree I found it to 

 be the large Red-tailed Hawk's nest, the 

 nest being occupied, but seemingly in an 

 unattainable position, for it was fully 

 ninety feet from the ground, and from the 

 ground to the lower limbs of the tree was 

 at least twenty-five feet. Returning to the 

 village I related my discovery and the 

 apparent inaccessible position of the nest. 

 A number of the young fellows at once 

 volunteered their assistance and set to re- 

 lating their wonderful feats of climbing for 

 nests, young squirrels, etc. 



Not possessing climbing irons, I next 

 day repaired to the tree with five or six of 

 these fellows, determined to put their skill 

 as climbers to a test. But a sight of the 

 tree and the great height of the nest, the 

 tree being on a side hill, at once struck a 

 chill over their enthusiasm. None would 

 attempt to climb the body of the tree, so 

 chopping a tall sapling that grew near we 

 managed to so direct its fall that it lodged 

 against the lower limbs of the tree. One 

 young fellow plucked up courage enough 

 to ascend this till he reached the lower 

 limbs, and then seeing how far it was to 

 the ground on the down hill side he became 

 nervous and made haste to reach terra 

 firma. 



Our expedition for the Red-tailed Hawk's 

 eggs now seemed in a fair w^ay to become 

 a failure, unless the " Dr." himself came to 

 the front, and though being nearly forty 

 j'ears old I knew that I could largely dis- 

 count the younger fellows in the climbing 

 business. Divesting myself of outside 



apparel I immediately set to work, and in 

 a very few minutes I was at the nest, 

 which was as large as a bushel basket, but 

 I was much chagrined to find two of the 

 three eggs were partly hatched and worth- 

 less. With the third t^-gg I reached the 

 ground in safety, and tjy careful drilling, 

 cutting and extracting, secured for my 

 cabinet one good .specimen, which, I con 

 sidered, amply repaid me for all the risk 

 and labor expended to obtain it. The egg 

 was as large as a turkey's egg, white 

 mottled and clouded with chocolate. 



On our return we obtained several tine 

 sets of crows' eggs, the nests being in low 

 trees, my young companions climbing 

 these without hesitation. 



Dr. W. S. Strode, 

 Bernadotte, 111. 



From Washington County, N, Y. 



NIGHT HAWK. 



Common summer resident here. I have 

 taken three or four nests in the last year. 

 The Night Hawk constructs no nest but 

 lays its eggs on the bare ground where it is 

 slatey, sometimes on rocks. The eggs are 

 two in number of a dirty white, Spotted 

 and covered with different shades of 

 brown. When j'ou are walking along you 

 can hardly see them. I never found a nest 

 without flushing the bird first. They rear 

 but one brood a year. 



CROW. 



I have taken as many as six nests of this 

 bird in a single day. One day I was col- 

 lecting in a thick wood and I saw a nest 

 with the old Crow on, and after I got up 

 to the nest there was just one egg in it. I 

 went to the nest again in a week and got 

 five more eggs, making a nice set of six. A 

 good many times since I have taken the 

 eggs of this bird and have often watched 

 them tear the old nest to pieces and build 

 it up again and then taken it the second 

 time. They commence building here 

 about the middle of April. The eggs are 

 of a greenish color, spotted with different 

 shades of brown and black. I have found 

 eggs that were just spotted with a large 

 spot of black on the larger end. 



RUFFED GROUSE. 



This is one of our most famous game 

 birds. Last j'ear a set of twelve \Aere 

 taken and the year before a set of thirteen. 

 Both nests were built about alike and were 

 placed at the foot of a hemlock tree and 

 made mostly of leaves, leaving a hole just 

 large enough to hold the eggs. They gen- 

 erally lay from ten to eighteen. The eggs 

 are of a dark cream color, sometimes 

 spotted with a dull red. " Owl." 



