May, 1892.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



77 



fresh beef or grass. Fish and frogs seemed 

 the most toothsome food I furnished it. The 

 ohl story was so fresli in memory tliat I could 

 not resist the temptation to place the fish on 

 a flat surface and then in water. Of course I 

 found out, as everybody else has, that there 

 was little or no difficulty in taking the food 

 without the water, although I could easily 

 imagine there was some virtue in it. 



Tlie dead fish I gave it, ranging from two to 

 five inches in length, were scarcely torn at all 

 before swallowing. A few hasty, hound-like 

 gulps was all the attempt made at mastication. 

 The live cray-fish, however, was pierced and 

 bitten until it in some measure ceased strug- 

 gling, before it was swallowed, but from the 

 uneasiness of my Bittern I judged Mr. Cray- 

 fish was not behaving very well after he had 

 been swallowed. 



Next a green frog (Rana vlresccns) was 

 given it. When this luscious green morsel 

 was spied sitting there Mr. Bittern cautiously 

 moved towards it and instantly seized the 

 body of the frog midway, using those sword- 

 like mandibles to such effect that life was 

 soon extinct. Considerable care was taken to 

 kill this specimen. Even the legs must have 

 the bones broken repeatedly, especially the 

 long hinder ones. Then, with only slight 

 inconvenience it was swallowed whole, causing 

 a considerable distending of the a;sophagus 

 for a few minutes. 



Quite a variety of common names have been 



applied to this bird; among them are, Indian 



Hen, Stake Drive, Bog Bull and I have heard 



it called Tliunder Pumper, although this name 



is also applied to a fish. It was probably a 



confused idea of this last name which caused 



the boys to reply, when asked what tliey had, 



that they were not quite sure about it but 



they thought it was a "Pump Sucker.' 



A. B. Ulrey. 

 North Manchester, Iiid. 



Phoebe Bird — Pewee. 



From Wade's Fibre and Fal)ric. 



This intelligent and familiar bird can be 

 found all over New England wherever there 

 is an open barn, barn cellar, bridge, or any 

 kind of a dilapidated out-house or even high 

 rocks, on the face of which the nest may often 

 be found built of moss and mud, with some 

 hair for lining, and fastened firmly to the rock 

 with mud undoi- some slight projection. I 

 never found a nest on a continuous shelf on a 



rock, but often just above or below one. This 

 is evidently done to avoid their four-footed 

 enemies that often pass over such runs and 

 would destroy their eggs if they came in their 

 way. There are some rocks where the 

 remains of many nests can be found showing 

 that they have built there for very many 

 years. They will occuj^y the same nest for 

 years, relining it each year unless they have 

 good cause to desert it. 



April 10, 18S2, I found a beautiful nest in a 

 deserted New England farm-house at Versailles, 

 Conn. It was sustained on a nail against a 

 joist in what had been the dining-room. I 

 questioned the owner about the nest. lie 

 stated that it had been there for twenty years 

 undisturbed, and they always got off two 

 broods in a season. 



New England barns are usually built with 

 the under beams hewn, and are more or less 

 rounding, giving a shoulder on which the 

 Phaibe builds its nest. 



In a barn cellar of this kind, at llockville, 

 Conn., I took two sets of four eggs; another 

 party took the third set vvith nest and four 

 eggs. The same pair built a new nest and 

 laid four more eggs the same year, from whi i\\ 

 they took off four young. This was in 1878, 

 when every pair we found that year laid but 

 four eggs. 



During 1877 we took a nest from a slight 

 shelf on a solitary rock which stood on the 

 level ground in a wood away from any build- 

 ings. The nest was not over three feet from 

 the ground and in plain sight of the public 

 road. Within a few hundred yards of this 

 rock, at the head of Lake Snipsic, Rockvillc, 

 Conn., is a bridge, the beams of which are not 

 over four feet from the water, which is very 

 turbulent in the spring-time. The bridge is 

 always in poor order, and the dirt falls through 

 and annoys the Phoibes that build their nest 

 underneath, and yet they breed there every 

 year, unless disturbed too much. Even then 

 they will return another year. 



Under this bridge, in 1878 (June 11th), I 

 took a set of four eggs; May 14, 1879, I took a 

 set of five eggs; May 15, 1880, I took a set of 

 five eggs, which proved to be slightly spotted. 

 This was the only spotted set 1 have taken, 

 though they are not unusual. Under this 

 bridge, which is a fair type of similar bridges, 

 are to be found the remains of many nests. 



In the summer of 187'J, while botanizing 

 with a granddaugher of Audubon, in the 

 town of Tolland, Conn., I climbed into a win- 

 dow of a recently abandoned dwelling. In one 



