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THE OOLOQI8T 



the same road, I chanced to look 

 ahead and there I saw a Crow that 

 was seemingly doing some kind of a 

 dance. He was looking interestedly 

 into the grass, and at short intervals 

 would spring up into the air several 

 inches. As I neared the place, the 

 Crow flew away and I discovered a 

 young brown weasel vainly trying to 

 escape over a bank too high for him, 

 which bordered the road. The Crow 

 acted as though he would like to cap- 

 ture the weasel but not knowing just 

 how to go about it. I have also known 

 Crows to chase rabbits in the winter. 

 In concluding, it may be well to add 

 a few notes on the Crow's nesting. In 

 this portion of the Mississippi valley, 

 where the trees ordinarily grow to a 

 height of from 35 to 50 feet, the Crows 

 build their nests in the topmost 

 branches of them, where they natural- 

 ly command a good view of the sur- 

 rounding country. Near my home 

 there is a grove of tamaracks where 

 formerly Crows nested in large num- 

 bers. They no longer nest there, and 

 a' farmer told me that the Green 

 Herons, which nested there at the 

 same time, drove them out, but 

 whether this is the real or merely the 

 imaginary cause of their departure, I 

 am unable to say. The Green Herons 

 do not nest there any more either, and 

 I think this may be due to tree squir- 

 rels, which also reside there, robbing 

 their nests and thereby discouraging 

 them. The Crow's nest is a huge 

 mass of coarse sticks, with a nest, 

 bowl-shaped cavity in the middle, 

 which is lined with bark and grass 

 roots. The eggs are an uncertain 

 green in color with brownish-black 

 markings. The young, during the 

 first stages of their development, are 

 very univiting objects; they are naked 

 except for a few pin feathers, and the 

 mouth seems to be the most conspicu- 

 ous part of them. The parents are 



very quiet when near the nest, and you 

 usually learn of its proximity by the 

 old birds flying quickly out of the tree 

 when alarmed at your approach. 



For centuries the crow has been ac- 

 cepted as mankind's enemy; he has 

 been classed as a base villian and as 

 a black-hearted marauder, but i sin- 

 cerely believe that in spite of all that 

 has been and will be said and done, 

 he will live on in undimished numbers, 

 enjoying man's society — often at his 

 expense — until the end of time. 



Fred J. Pierce, 

 Winthrop, Iowa. 



Delos Hatch, of Oakfield Wisconsin, 

 that grand old man of Oology, cele- 

 brated his 79th birthday recently with 

 two social affairs and he still lives in 

 spite of the two big feeds, something 

 of course he could not do at his age 

 except for the fact that he has always 

 been a through going Oologist. 



R. M. Barnes. 



Mr. J. R. Mann, of Arlington, Mass., 

 has passed away at his home. He was 

 for many years a subscriber and a 

 firm friend of The Oologist. 



NOTES 



This summer I noted what I have 

 termed the swinging song of the Hum- 

 ming bird. In this evolution the bird 

 described a half arc varying from 15 

 to 50 feet in diameter and in a plane 

 perpendicular to the earth. This 

 flight is performed very rapidly for 

 one or two minutes with an incessant 

 twitter the while. 



I noted this evolution during a 

 week's time only, and am at loss to 

 know why I have never seen it before, 

 and can find no reference to similar 

 actions in books at hand. 



Lyle DeVern Miller, 

 East Claridon, Ohio. 



