144 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 18-N0. 10 



1893 Wednesday by starting on a snow-shoe 

 trip of 100 miles after Owls' eggs, followed 

 by one, as soon as migration begins, to the 

 famous Devil Lake County. 



Last year I collected 640 eggs, 71 varie- 

 ties ; this year will swell the list a little, con- 

 sequently the snow-shoe trip. 



Hope to add a Bald Eagle to my Rap- 

 tores as I have heard of one out 70 miles 

 in a little patch of timber on the prairies. 

 Prairies ! A multitude of thoughts that one 

 word contains ; dreary in winter, inviting in 

 spring, beautiful in summer and glorious in 

 autumn. What medicine for the sick and 

 hard-worked clerk or business man of the 

 cities would be a few weeks of life here. 



A good team of horses and dogs, guns and 

 a place to sleep, then let business take care 

 of itself. 



Few can realize how much benefit such a 

 trip is unless it has been their lot to receive 

 such benefit. 



To be born in New York State and raised in 

 North Dakota is not the luck of many men. 

 For 14 years this has been my home. Saw 

 the Elk in plenty when too small to hunt, 

 Deer and Antelope. It is a fine place for 

 the hunter or naturalist. 



Will give another note in the spring, after 

 the season is passed, telling how successful 

 it was. Alf. East gate. 



Grand Forks, N.D. 



" What is authentically known of the ra- 

 pidity of flight by different species of bird.s, 

 and which is considered the swiftest?" 



To Mr. Smith's question, I believe it may 

 be answered that the Falcons are the swift- 

 est, and as far as my experience goes it 

 seems to me that the Duck Hawk is swifter 

 than any other species. 



It easily overtakes any bird within the 

 range of its vision, and does so with incred- 

 ible velocity. 



A Bobwhite, once fired at by me, was 

 overtaken by a Duck Hawk in the distance 

 of two hundred yards, though the Hawk ap- 



parently had to fly three times as far as its 

 quarry before it reached the latter. 



On another occasion two Duck Hawks 

 were seen pursuing a flock of tame Pigeons. 

 These were far above their pursuers, and 

 while in that position were safe. But the 

 Falcons began to "ring," or ascend in cir- 

 cles till the smaller bird, the male, got his 

 "pitch" first, then, with astonishing swift- 

 ness, he overtook the Pigeons, whose rapid- 

 ity of flight is very great. When the Falcon 

 began his swooj), at about an angle of twenty 

 degrees with the flight of the Pigeons, these, 

 though going very fast, seemed in compar- 

 ison with the progress of their pursuer 

 scarcely to move, as he shot like an arrow 

 through the flock. Other instances of the 

 swiftness of flight by Falcons might be given 

 but these seem to show that no bird flies as 

 fast as the Falcon. ^Vm. C. Avery. 



Greensboro, .'\la. 



NESTINC OF HUDSONI.VN CHICKADEE IN M.-VINE. 



On July 10, 1S93, while I was walking in 

 the spruce forests in Cutler, Washington 

 County, Maine, a small bird suddenly flew 

 from the lower, branches of a small spruce 

 tree near an opening in the woods. 



I thought she had just left her nest, and 

 upon investigating found it in a natural cav- 

 ity in the stub of a small hard-wood tree 

 which had been destroyed by fire some years 

 before. 



I waited some time for the bird to return 

 to identify it. In the course of fifteen min- 

 utes she returned, and flew into the hole 

 which contained the nest. 



When she came out, in about a minute, 

 I shot her and found she was a Hudsonian 

 Chickadee. 



The entrance to the cavity was about 16 

 inches from the ground, and the cavity itself 

 was about eight inches deep. 



The nest was compact and large, made of 

 rabbit's hair and moss. It contained six 

 young birds, a few days old. 



Gardner W. Hall. 



