182 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. l4r-No. 12 



as a nesting site the eggs are no easy matter to 

 get. The nests are placed in sweet gum, bircli, 

 oak, willow, and pine mostly, and range from 

 seven to fifty feet in height, the highest nests 

 being those in pines and the lowest ones those 

 in the gums. 



The birds take about two weeks to build the 

 nest and lay the four or five eggs which consti- 

 tute a set; but after a pair has been robbed 

 once, they take much less time over the sec- 

 ond and later nests. When undisturbed I do 

 not think they raise more than one brood in a 

 season. The labors of incubation are shared 

 by both sexes, though I don't know whether 

 the male bird takes his full share of the work, 

 or whctlier he only goes on the nest once in a 

 while, to show how good he is. 



From one pair of birds we took four sets this 

 year, and as a matter of curiosity I give the 

 history thereof: 



April 12, 1889. Birds started building in 

 fork of sweet-gum, eight feet high. 



April 18. Birds started on the nest again 

 after doing nothing for nearly a week of cold 

 weather. 



May 2. Took set of four eggs from nest. 

 Birds found building next day in another 

 sweet-gum, nine feet high this time. 



May 14. Took set of four from second nest. 

 Birds started again next day in a third sweet- 

 gum, and put the nest a little higher (twelve 

 feet.) 



May 24. Took set of four from tliird nest. 

 Birds started building again in a fourtli sweet- 

 gum. Nest again twelve feet high. 



June 1. Nest had three eggs in. Looked 

 later on and it had only two. 



June 3. Took set of three from third nest. 

 Some days after, the birds started on their fifth 

 nest, choosing a pine limb some forty feet high 

 and putting the nest a long way from the 

 trunk, and so we concluded to let the bird 

 hatch. C. S. Brimley. 



Raleigh, N. C. 



My Two Pets. 



It was a beautiful morning in May wlien 



L and myself started out with the distinct 



view of making a new acquaintance. We had 

 carefully located our destination several days 

 previous, and judged that it was time for the 

 harvest. A few minutes' walk brought us to 

 the outskirts of the city. At the forks of the 

 roads, in a small pine tree particularly ex- 

 posed to the view of all who passed, was a 



rustic home. Father and mother had evidently 

 let their pride overcome their usual cautious 

 nature. As we approached the spot a dark 

 object silently stole away and up popped two 

 bright-eyed heads whicli peered down curi- 

 ously at us with an expression that seemed to 

 say. Well, what are you two chaps up to? 



L , who was the expert, climbed up in a 



manner that would have done credit to his 

 undeveloped ancestors, and amid protestations 

 tliat made the welkin ring from above, and 

 excited cautions to point them the right way 

 from below, dropped them in succession into 

 the outstretched hands of the writer. Placing 

 them in .a basket we retiaced our steps. A 

 temporary home was made by suspending an 

 old basket from a tree about four feet from 

 tlie ground. Once domiciled our attention 

 was occupied to their entertainment. During 

 the next four weeks we fed them continuously 

 on cooked meal, sawdust, and everything in 

 the line of insect life we could obtain: "in 

 those days we had little idea of the value of 

 entomological collections"; and our many 

 friends who called would occasionally drop in 

 marbles, jackknives and tops into their eter- 

 nally opened receptacles. Such appetites! It 

 was simply marvelous. They seemed to lead 

 a charmed life, and each experiment produced 

 but one result— a squawk for more. As the 

 days passed their ambition developed from 

 standing tiptoe in the centre of the basket to 

 balancing on the edge, till one day it culmin- 

 ated in a tumble to tlie ground. They became 



very much attached to L and myself. Tliey 



would actually shriek and croak wlienever we 

 appeared, and their deinmds required as much 

 attention as the running of an ornithological 

 magazine. I assure the reader they received 

 it, never in a wild state could they have been 

 such autocrats. Morning, noon and night it 



was scratch gmtel for them. L retired in 



disgust from the field and I helplessly became 

 their slave. As their coats assumed a glossy 

 black the primaries of the wings of one became 

 a yellowish-white, and led to his being nick- 

 named Spot, while tlie otiier we called Jack. 

 In manners, dispositions and accomplishments 

 the one was the reflection of the other. 



Our first morning exercise would consist of 

 a visit to the garden. I would lift the leaves 

 of the squash vines and pick off the dark three- 

 cornered squash bugs " to me the most detest- 

 able form of insect life," and serve them one 

 at a time in turn. To show any partiality 

 meant a row. They would never visit the 

 vines except in my company, nor help them- 



