20 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 1«-Ni 



upon nearly every large branch, high ii]) in 

 the immense trees, is a nest of either a 

 Double-crested Cormorant or a Great IJItie 

 Heron, or perhaps one of each, upon the same 

 branch. Over the edge of the nests great long 

 necks are outstretched to see who the intruder 

 may be; or again you may see young birds out 

 on the branches and the old ones teaching 

 them to Hy. Now a shadow passes over you 

 as an old Heron ariives with a half decayed 

 fish; after Hopping around she drops her legs 

 down from behind her u|ion a limb near the 

 nest and with a half balancing flap of the 

 wings she manages to stand erect, and to the 

 young bird who can stretch its neck tlie 

 farthest the fish is given as a reward. 



Looking around you on the giound you see 

 that it is covered with the mangled remains of 

 young birds which have tmdoubtedly lost 

 their hold above and met their fate below. 



As you retrace your steps there comes to 

 your mind the old legend that the Indians 

 once held the i.slaud sacred. For what reason 

 no one knows unless it is on account of the 

 so-called Cranes, as I hey have made tliis their 

 breeding place as long as the (ddest inhabi- 

 tant can remember. Tliis sounds ratlier myth- 

 ical, but upon reaching the shore you see tlie 

 island is bounded on all sides by smaller 

 islands and a stiip of main lainl which aie 

 covered by Indian mounds, and remembering 

 that these are the only mounds in tliis part of 

 the country, and tliat they are only on the 

 sliore which faces Crane Island, you come 

 to thir conclusion that there must be some- 

 thing in the theory. One hour's search ui)on 

 this i.shmd will convince you tliat Crane Island 

 is the most dismal piece of ground and yet 

 the moit instructive in Uiitural science uf any 

 that you were ever on. 



//, />'. Ilin:l. 

 IMinneap'tlis Muui. 



Singular Capture of a Black-throated 

 Diver 



On the last day of I)eccml)er, ISllO, I finished 

 up my ornitliological iiarvest for tlie year with 

 a Ulack-tliroaled Diver in the immature plum- 

 age, brought to niebyaman who had captuicd 

 it in an unusual maimer. He w:is on his way 

 home from Soutlibridge, Mass., when he saw a 

 strange object ahead of him in the road. 

 There was a heavy body of ice on the ground, 

 and the road especially looked like a, fiozcn 

 pond. As he drew nearer he saw that the <ib- 

 .ject was a bird, anil tlionght he would try to 



capture it. So getting out of his sleigh he 

 walked towards the bird which made no at- 

 tempt to escape, and allowed him to quietly pick 

 it up. On reaching home he put it in a large tub 

 of water into which he also put a number of live 

 minnows. In the morning he found the bird 

 had scrambled out of the tub and was on the 

 floor, but the same number of fi.-h was in the 

 tub that he put there. He kept the bird two 

 days, and fearing it would starve he took it 

 out of doors and gave it a toss into the air, but 

 instead of flying away it came down heavily 

 to the ground. In a day or two afterwaid it 

 died and the owner brought it to me. 



On skinning the bird I found a small shot 

 wound in the thigh into which a (juantily of 

 down had been driven by the shot. It ap- 

 peared to have been made some time bcfiire 

 as it was (juile dry. One of its eyes was aho 

 injured, ami though 1 could fliul no shot I 

 think it must have been struck by one. 



Eastfonl, Cimii. t'. il. Jones. 



Nesting of the Sharp-shinned Hawk. 



The Sharp shiimed Hank is not an uncom- 

 mon summer resident here, but 1 believe that 

 their nests are the most dillicnlt to lind of (uir 

 FalronUhi'. 



While out collecting on April 10, IHS'.I, 1 

 passed through a small piece of timber land, 

 perhaps seven oreiglit acres of second growth, 

 containing a dozen or more scattered hem- 

 locks, the largest not over eighteen inclics in 

 diameter. 1 chanced to see a Sliarp-shinned 

 Hawk leave a nest in one of the larger hem- 

 locks while I was yet some distance away. 



Upon climbing up about thirty feet to the 

 nest I f(uuid it to be anew one, completed, but 

 empty. Meantime a pair of the birds were Hy- 

 ing about, and judging from their racket they 

 were applying to me all the opprobrious epi- 

 thets known in the hawk vocabulary. 



On May 0th I visited tlie place again and 

 Hushed one of the birds from the nest. \\ bile 1 

 was in the tree a young man who was with me 

 shot twice at the biids but missed them. The 

 nest contained two fiesh eggs which were 

 taken, not wishing to run any risk of some- 

 one else taking them before I could again 

 visit the nest. 



On May liUh I started to search the .same 

 piece of woods, hoping to find a new nest that 

 I expected they would build. Innigiuc my 

 surprise to see one of the birds leave the same 

 nest that I had previously robbed. Of ccuir.se 

 I climbed the tree, and as soon as I looked into 



