THE OSPREY. 



89 



friskily about the top-most branches of the tree 

 uttering very frequently their characteristic 

 lisped zee zee. 



A sudden shower forced us to seek refuge 

 beneath the rustic bridge where we had ample 

 opportunity t<> examine the Phoebe'^ nest with 

 its four immaculate eggs, which was fastened 

 to one of the supporting cross-beams. The rain 

 drenched everything so effectively that further 

 exploration seemed undesirable for the day. — but 

 in spite of the unfavorable weather we registered 

 a list of forty-three species. 



On the fourteenth. I had the pleasure of con- 

 ducting such members of one of the sections of 



are not among the class of early risers. The 

 i lass was composed of the most energetic stu- 

 dents that I have had the good fortune to meet. 

 There seemed to be not one among them who 

 was not a thoroughly enthusiastic lover of 

 birds. 



We were listening to the morning prayer of a 

 Rose-breasted Grosbeak, perched way up in the 

 top of a large tulip tree, his red breast turned 

 toward the morning sun, when one of the flock 

 came running and breathlessly related that she 

 had found a nest, on the ground- a small nest — 

 belonging to a small black and white bird. We 

 followed and scarcely fifty feet from where the 



NATIONAL 

 ZOOLOGICAL K\HK 



w.VNUlM-niY II. < 



the Washington Normal School on a field trip 

 as were willing to be at the meeting point, the 

 loop of the seventh street cars near the Zoo en- 

 trance, at 6:30 a. m. 



To my great surprize the tlock was not a small 

 one for be it remembered that Washington ian- 



Grosbeak sang, we saw. midst a bank of old 

 dead leaves, a home of the Black and White 

 Creeping Warbler. A neat little nest most ad- 

 mirably concealed by its inconspicuousness. It 

 was chiefly composed of dead leaves, bast fiber 

 and shreds of bark with a lining of fine rootlets, 



