88 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 16-No. U 



How I Send My Specimens Home. 



I am afraid that I myself am not what 

 woukl be called an "out-and-out natuvalist '" 

 for, in my eyes the owning of a flock of thor- 

 oughbred fowls or a bunch of Merino, Shroi>- 

 shire or any other good breed of sheep are of 

 a great deal more interest, as well as a more 

 profitable and far pleasanter job than the 

 skinning and stuffing of birds, etc., and yet I 

 think that a stand of well stuffed and mounted 

 birds of the rarer, aye, and some of the more 

 common varieties, make a very pretty addition 

 to any room, (I suppose that statement in 

 itself is enough to kill me in the eyes of an 

 enthusiast); and therefore when my brothers 

 (of Ponkapoag, Mass.) wrote and invited me to 

 send them some skins from this i^art of the 

 world (I am now in Colorado, on the sheep 

 ranch of a friend), I racked my bruins for 

 some method of preserving the skins during 

 the four days' trip between here and home, but 

 the only way I could thiidc of, at first, was to 

 skin them; alas, I was not an adept in tlie art, 

 but I sent home some two dozen skins, and 

 was informed that they were utterly mined 

 when received. 



They informed me that they had seen an 

 advertisement in the columns of Forext and 

 Sti-eam of a preservative for keeping skins 

 ■while being transixirted, but in the meantime 

 I had made a lucky hit. I had read in some 

 magazine that a tablespoon! ul of ground collee 

 would keep a brace of grouse for several days, 

 if it was scattered thoroughly through the 

 feathers, so I set to work, and after removing 

 the entrails from the birds and drying all tlie 

 get-atable parts with Ihiur I put them up, 

 sprinkled coffee enough to drown them, or 

 perhaps I should say smother them, and some- 

 times kept them for fully a week, in a cool 

 room, before sending them. The report was 

 that they weie perfectly fresh and in A 1 con- 

 dition when received. I have sent many a 

 specimen of Hawk, Duck and, besides otheis, 

 that "screeching, squawking little idiot," tlje 

 Killdeer Plover, so common all through the 

 West, but I believe it is considered rather a 

 rarity in Massachusetts. 1 liave also taken 

 several specimens of the Mountain Plover, 

 very common here and known as the Prairie 

 Snipe. They say the eggs are very common in 

 sea.son, and I will see what I can do in that 

 line when the time comes. I ran across two 

 of their eggs on top of a small hill while riding 

 home from one of the shci)licrd's camps on the 



21st of .Tanuary last, and considered it a very 

 good find. A. fi. Jl., Jr. 



Hugo, Col. 



Orchard Orioles Nesting Near King- 

 birds. 



I have noticed in this vicinity a lialiit the 

 Orchard Oriole (Icterus fipuriun) has of building 

 its nest in close proximity to that of the King- 

 bird {Tyrannnti tyrannuK). The following is 

 to illustrate this: 



In 1SS7 1 found a nest of the drcbard Oriole 

 in an apple tree. When the nest contained 

 live eggs 1 collected it. While at tlie nest 

 a pair of Kingbirds came and made even 

 more demonstration than the Orioles. I found 

 the Kingbird's nest in a rotten apple tree about 

 20U feet distant from the tree (■<intaining the 

 Oriole's nest. I collected this also. 



I watched this pair of Orioles and found 

 them building in a plum orchard about HW 

 feet from where 1 collected the first set. 

 The pair of Kingbirds mentioned above built 

 their nest within twenty feet of the Oiioles 

 this time. In a few days I again collected a set 

 (if Icltnis nimriiiK. 1 did not molest the 

 Kingbirds. 



The Orioles did not desert the spot hut hnill 

 another nest in another tree wiiliin tliirix feet 

 of the tree containing the nest of 'riinitiiiiix 

 tyrannns. I did not touch them lliis time. 



On the 2Gth of May, 188!1, I collected a set 

 of Orchard Orioles from nest in lop of siw.iW 

 plum tree, twelve feet from ground. AVitliin 

 three feet of tliis nest was a nest of I lie 

 Kingbiril containing four eggs. 1 did not 

 touch these. 



Two weeks later I took another nest of 

 the Orchard Oriole from the same tree that the 

 first set was taken from and not more than si.\ 

 inches from where tlie first nest had been. 



On .luiie 12, 18S10, I took from the top of an 

 apple tree a nest and set of four eggs of 

 Orchard Oriole. On the Kith (next day) I tixdc 

 from the same tree and within ten feet of 

 the Oriole's nest a set of four Kingbird's eggs. 



A few days later I found an Orchard Oriole's 

 nest containing young birds. I immediately 

 began to look fin- a nest of Ti/rannns tyrdinnis 

 and found it in another ticc not more lliau 

 forty feet from the Oriole's nest. 



Can any readers of the O. & O. explain tliis? 

 Do the Orioles seek tlu' jirotection of the 

 Kingbirds? //• C. CumphcU. 



Lansiii};liur!;l'. ^'- Y. 



