October, 1S93.J 



AND OOLOGIST. 



153 



Dec. 21. Saw or heard one or more 

 Towhees every day since the i6th except 

 yesterday. Saw one ? Towhee and one 

 Thrasher today. Saw about a dozen 

 Wilson's Snipe to-day and yesterday. 

 Robins scarcer, about one tenth of former 

 numbers. Weather stiil quite mild, no 

 break so far. 



Dec. 22. 'H. killed a $ Mallard, I 

 killed ? Bewicks Wren. 



Dec. 23. Killed a $ Sharp-shinned 

 Hawk with a Bluebird in its claws ; when 

 the Hawk fell the Bluebird flew away. 

 A few Killdeer every day now. Robins 

 have almost disappeared. 



Dec. 30. H. caught an extra large $ 

 Mink, L. 26% ; T. loj^ ; weight 3^^ 

 pounds. Towhees about up to date. 

 Cold wave to-day, weather breaking up. 



Jan. 7, 1890. Killed a $ Southern 

 Hairy Woodpecker. 



Jan. 14. Shot at a Maryland Yellow- 

 throat on the creek. 



Jan. 23. H. caught a King Rail in one 

 of his muskrat traps. 



Jan. 30. Saw two Maryland Yellow- 

 throats and one Long-billed Marsh Wren 

 in a cat-tail swamp. Cedar Birds have 

 been abundant since the loth. 



Feb. 4. Killed a $ Maryland Yellow- 

 throat. 



Feb. 13. Killed a Yellow-palm Warb- 

 ler. Have heard a Maryland Yellow-throat 

 and Long-billed Marsh Wren every time 

 this month I have been near the above- 

 mentioned cat-tail swamp. Thrashers 

 and Towhees present in small numbers 

 every day. H. killed a Red-shouldered 

 Hawk. 



Feb. 15. H. killed a $ Great-horned 

 Owl. 



Feb. 24. Six Yellow-palm Warblers 

 seen, one killed, but no good, as all pin- 

 feathers. 



Feb. 27. Killed a full-plumaged Red- 

 headed Woodpecker. 



Feb. 28. Chipping Sparrows arrived. 

 Heard a Siskin. 



March 3. Killed a Red Screech Owl 

 and a Purple Grackle. 



March 6. Killed a Yellow-palm War- 

 bler. 



March 14. Killed my first Pine Siskin 

 of the year, while on the lookout for Pine 

 Warblers building. 



March 17. Small flocks of Siskins in 

 the pine woods now ; they are feeding on 

 the seeds of the yellow and loblolby 

 pines and the trumpet vine. 



March 19. H. took three young Am- 

 erican Woodcock in the down ; I took a 

 Red-breasted Nuthatch and a Siskin. 



March iS. Killed a ? Blue-headed Vireo 

 which was in company with another that 

 was not secured. C. S. Brimley. 



Raleigh, N.C. 



Rose-breasted Grosbeak. 



Doubtless some readers of the Orni- 

 thologist AND OoLOGiST know as little 

 of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak as I did, 

 and as last summer I had a chance to 

 make a slight acquaintance with them, I 

 think I should pass my scraps in. 



I arrived at Shin Creek, in the extreme 

 north of Sullivan County, New York, 

 about the middle of June. By that time 

 the birds must have been hatched, for I 

 found young ones ten days later. My first 

 bird was an adult male. I saw him on 

 June 17 at the top of a thicket, eating the 

 green tips of the new shoots and catching 

 a few caterpillars and worms. 



I shot him, and hunted faithfully for the 

 nest that I hoped was there, but it didn't 

 materialize. Before I shot him I watched 

 and listened. He hopped restlessly from 

 ground to branch, and branch to top, 

 "warbling" in a hurried, interrupted way 

 in a clear but squeaky voice. Then he 

 would vary it by a series of kzichks, in a 

 hoarse, grating voice. I was very much 

 disappointed, as I had heard of their beau- 

 tiful song. 



A couple of weeks later, July i, when 



