44 



THE OOLOGIST. 



darkness began settling down ere I had 

 reached solid ground. Alone and lightly 

 clad I hurried on, following the direction 

 as best I could, there being no path or road 

 — nothing but cold and darkness. On and 

 on I went, well upon the ridges which I 

 followed. "When coming up a steep point 

 a great eagle flew heavily trom a boulder 

 right before me and flapped away in the 

 blackness. Mile after mile I went, when 

 I began to appreciate that I was lost and 

 wandering on a wide, lone prairie. A cold 

 north wind blew from the cloudy sky; no 

 light could be seen, not a tree or a stick 

 to make fire from. Cheerless I wandered, 

 when happily my foot struck a cow path. 

 I followed followed it for a long distance; 

 it led into a marsh. I retraced my steps 

 and at last came upon a corral, then the 

 herdsman's shanty, where I stayed the re- 

 mainder of the night. Many j'ears have 

 passed since then, but the memory of that 

 Crane's nest and the lonely wandering are 

 not forgotten. J. W. Pkeston, 



Baxter, Iowa. 



SPRING NOTES. 



Oological and Ornithological. 



A suspicion haunted me as to whether 

 the Picidae family wintered with us, par- 

 ticularly the "Red-headed George" — local 

 phraseolog}^ here. The Downy's and 

 Hairy's I knew all about, but the species 

 above referred to was still an unknown 

 quantity. Heretofore I had always seen 

 plenty, until after Xmas, Jan. 1st., at the 

 latest, and then they disappeared, not to 

 appear again until the last of March, being 

 plenty in April. 



I made it a point the past winter to climb 

 to holes where I knew they should be, and 

 in every instance found the Eed-heads at 

 home, sometimes one, sometimes two and 

 three occupying the same cavity. I found 

 them thus during all the weeks from Janu- 

 ary to date ; now, of course, they are com- 

 mon. I watched closely how and where 

 they fed. When the weather was ex- 

 tremely rough, snow eight feet deep and 

 the trees covered with ice, making climb- 



ing anything but pleasant. George was 

 found snugly stowed away in the deepest 

 recess of his hole, in some instances more 

 dead than alive. On one occasion, having 

 thrown one from the hole, it fell to the 

 ground without any attempt at expanding 

 its wings, and in three which I dissected, 

 the stomachs were perfectly empty. 



During a thaw, or upon sunny days, 

 they would feed on the ground upon 

 acorns, mast, etc., and only twice did I 

 hear any rapping indication of insect hunt- 

 ing. They seemed to depend mainly upon 

 acorns 



These birds are very quiet during the 

 cold winter months ; anyone expecting to 

 find them by the great noise and fuss 

 which they make at other seasons would be 

 sadly left, thus it happened me at least, 

 and the foregoing observation, made some 

 years ago, would have settled the whole 

 matter. 



Five ja^ars ago, being picked up on a 

 bird question by an old "wise-head," I 

 made it a "stiff pointer" with myself 

 never to take anything for granted, nor 

 any person's word for anything pertaining 

 to birds, their nests and. eggs, in my own 

 locality, and it has taught me ten-fold more 

 than the books ever did. 



It is never well to be too positive on ques- 

 tions in our line, there is too much varia- 

 tion in Nature's working. Circumstances 

 may be such as to compel a change of 

 base, characteristics, etc., which being 

 contrary to the accepted rule, the conse- 

 quence is — you get left. 



It has taken me three years to prove to 

 the knowing ones (?) that the Purple Mar- 

 tin does not necessarily need to come on 

 March 28th. The time varied, for and 

 against me heretofore, but this spring de- 

 cides the whole business. It is now the 

 5th of April and no Martin has appeared. 



I generally entertain between 30 and 40 

 each season, but where are they now? 

 Probably some skin-hog has gobbled them 

 all, and even now they may be adorning 

 the phenomenal spring hat. But enough, 

 southern friend, keep them yet a week or 

 so, the mercury stands at only 36° and 



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