July, 1S93.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



Black Tern, 20 Horned Grebes, 20 Pied- 

 billed Grebes, one Blackbird and two Least 

 Bittern eggs. The Black Tern were in 

 swarms. A pair of American Bitterns nest 

 here, but we couldn't find the nest. 



June 30. Found a nest of tne Wood 

 Phoebe at St. Clair containing one egg and 

 two young. The nest was a most beautiful 

 structure of lichens saddled on the bough of 

 an apple tree. 



July 30. Saw a fine Bald Elagle flying 

 down the St. Clair River. It lit on a tele- 

 graph pole on the river wall for a few min- 

 utes. Miss M. Ellen Lane saw him again 

 later. 



July 31. American Goldfinch; set of four 

 eggs from nest in an apple tree 15 feet up. 



B. II. Sivales. 

 Detroit, Mich. 



Old Orchard, St. Louis Co., Mo. 



"Who can do better?" asks Mr. S. R. 

 Ingers;.ll ("O. & O.," XVHL 5, page 77) 

 after naming 14 species nesting within 300 

 feet of his " home among the birds." 



While this may be an excellent showing 

 for some parts of the country, it could hardly 

 be considered extraordinarj' in this Missis- 

 sippi Valley. 



To the general reader who has not taken 

 actual measure, it is proper to say that a 300 

 foot limit line around a country house incloses 

 a much larger area than one might suppose. 



Within 300 feet of my house I counted 

 not less than 280 trees of 30 different kinds, 

 besides a large kitchen garden, flower garden, 

 vineyard, part of a pasture, part of 2 ponds, 

 outbuildings, lawn, rockroad, etc. 



It is true that I took pains to attract birds 

 by putting up bird-boxes, stumps with holes, 

 brush piles, etc., and also that birds are never 

 molested. They can eat all the peas, cher- 

 ries, berries, pears and grapes they want 

 (and I think the whole damage don't amount 

 to 50 cents a year) ; they can drink all the 

 water they want, build wherever they want 



and can make all the noise tBey want — the 

 more the better. 



The following is a list of all the birds found 

 nesting within the 300 foot limit ; the num- 

 bers mean pairs, not nests ; some breed, of 

 course, more than once in a season, and in 

 some boxes three broods are raised in one 

 season, for instance, two broods of Bluebirds 

 and afterwards a brood of House Wrens. 

 Woodthrush, i ; Martin, 7 : 



Kingbird, i ; Robin, 2 ; 



Chippy, 2 ; Great-crested, i ; 



Mockingbird, 2 ; Field Sparrow, i ; 



Phoebe, i ; Catbird, 4 ; 



Towhee, i ; Pewee, i ; 



Thrasher, i ; Cardinal, i ; 



Traill's, i ; Bluebird, 2 ; 



Rose-breast, i ; Swift, i ; 



Tufted Tit, i ; Indigo, i ; 



Redhead, i ; Bewick's Wren, i ; 



Baltimore, i ; Flicker, i ; 



House Wren, 6 : Orchard O., 2 ; 



Mourning dove, i ; Maryland Vellow- 

 Br. Grackle, 4 ; throat, i ; 



European Tree Spar- Warbling Mreo, 2 ; 



rows, many pairs; Bluejay, 2. 



Another sjiecies reared within 300 feet is 

 the Molothrus. One young Cowbird was 

 reared by a Pipilo and another by a Pewee. 

 An extension of 150 feet would add such 

 species as Horned Lark, Dickcissel, Meadow 

 Lark, Lark Finch, etc. 



O. \Vidi)iaiin. 



A Utah Egging Trip. 



One beautiful morning we left .American 

 Fork bound for the lake, our party consisting 

 of the captain, an old sea dog who still " hank- 

 ers " after the water but pretends to go with us 

 boys to see that we do not get drowned, also 

 two young friends, interested in anything that 

 flies, and myself. On the way to the lake 

 we met a boy who said he had just scared up 

 a bird with an awful long bill, so we impressed 

 him into the sendee and he took us to a fine 

 nest of four Wilson's Snipe, eggs all laying 

 with their points together in a nest of dry 



