August, 1889.] 



a:n^d oologist. 



127 



sleepiness added, wliicli renders it very amus- 

 ing. 1 tliink we ornithologists, as a rule, 

 ought to tread lightly at night for there is no 

 knowing whose slumbers we may disturb. As 

 to incessant singing, I think the Yellow 

 Warbler deserves the laurels. All day long, 

 or nearly so, it keeps up its pleasing tune at 

 the rate on an average of six vocal perform- 

 ances every minute. I have had opportunity 

 lately to notice the singing of an individual 

 Yellow Warbler and I tind that every ten 

 seconds, on an average, he rolls out his ditty; 

 and he keeps it up throughout the day. Now 

 let us figure on this. Supposing he begins at 

 6 A.M. (and I have known him to begin at 4 

 o'clock) and sings until 7 p.m. We will allow 

 him one hour for breakfast and the same time 

 for dinner and supper and we will also give him 

 a generous allowance of an hour's resting spell 

 in the middle of the afternoon. (But let me 

 say here tliat I have known him to sing at all 

 his meals and never knew him to take a mid- 

 afternoon rest.) But with these generous 

 allowances, what is the result? Why, during 

 the lapse of one short day he has sung us 

 ?>,240 little songs. They all are the same to be 

 sure, but none the less pleasing for all that. 

 The study of the notes of birds is a most 

 pleasing and instructive one to me. 



Neil F. Postion. 

 Medina, N.Y. 



Editor of O. d- O.: 



I offer the following article for publication 

 in your paper, thinking it may be of interest 

 to your readers : 



On June 1st, I paid a visit to a colony of Pur- 

 ple Martins for the purpose of obtaining spec- 

 imens of the birds and eggs. This colony oc- 

 cupies a bird house on the roof of one of our 

 fuiniture factories, and the birds subsist on the 

 insects which they catch over the river near 

 by. I was surprised to find several dead birds 

 in the house. I secured four specimens, which 

 vipon being skinned showed evidences of starv- 

 ation. The muscles were very much wasted, es- 

 pecially the pectorals, leaving the breast bone 

 projecting like a knife. The stomachs were 

 entirely empty excepting one bird in whose 

 stomach was a slimy residue, apparently the 

 undigested legs and hard parts of insects. 



The next day, chancing to go into the 

 country a short distance from the city, I was 

 accosted by a farmer who gave me a Night- 

 hawk which he had found that morning in his 

 field to weak too fly, and apparently dying. He 

 took it to the house and gave it a little warm 

 milk which seemed to revive it, but it soon 



died. Examining it I found it in a condition 

 even worse than that of the Martin's. Its 

 stomach was entirely empty, and its body 

 was wasted worse than I had ever befoi-e seen. 

 The bird was full-grown, measuring sixty-one 

 centimeters in expanse or about twenty-four 

 inches, and its reduced condition could have 

 been due only to starvation. The same 

 gentleman told me that on the day before on 

 letting down some bars, one bar fell upon and 

 crushed another Nighthawk which lay on the 

 ground near by, too much exhausted to move 

 out of the way. Going through another field 

 on the same day he discovered another Night- 

 hawk on the ground before him also too weak 

 to rise. This was taken to the house but soon 

 died, doubtless like the others, from starva- 

 tion and exhaustion. I was afterward in- 

 formed by Mr. E. L. Moseley of Grand Rapids, 

 that about this time a Nighthawk was also 

 brought to him in an exhausted and dying con- 

 dition. This measured fifty-seven centimeters 

 in expanse, and weighed but fifty-two grammes, 

 or about an ounce and three-quarters Av. Its 

 stomach was emi>ty, and it died soon after. 



On the day following, being still in the 

 country, I took a little time for observation, 

 and was surprised to see dozens of Night- 

 hawks fiying about during the entire day, 

 though the sky had cleared, and the sun was 

 shining brightly. They all fiew near the ground 

 and appeared to be in an exhausted condition, 

 alighting frequently on fences or on the ground. 

 One fiew close to me and perched on a fence. 

 Moving toward it it flew up but alighted again 

 three or four rods away. Again moving 

 toward it, it again arose and again rested, 

 which performance was repeated three or four 

 times, when it fiew across a swamp. 



Now there is doubtless a cause for all this, 

 and I think it can be justly charged to the 

 weather. The unusual rains of May, extending 

 into June, no doubt freed the air of most of the 

 insects upon which these birds sub- 

 sist; and being thus deprived of their only 

 food, starvation must necessarily ensue. More 

 than that, birds of this class require more food 

 than other birds to supply energy for their pro- 

 tracted riight, as all their food is taken on the 

 wing. I should be pleased to hear from other 

 collectors on this same toi:»ic. Geo. D. Sones. 



Grand Rapids, Midi. 



Editor O. tfc O.: 



I have just returned from a twenty-two days' 

 trip over the Sierra Madre Mountains and have 

 just shipped my birds to England, with the 



