1 84 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 17-No. 12 



man desires a good fortune, he turns what- 

 ever money he has in his pocket on tirst 

 liearing the Cuckoo. The Cuckoo tells 

 the length of life, and also can inform 

 maidens how many years tiiey will remain 

 single. 



The farmers iiave many Cuckoo prov- 

 erbs, such as — 



"When Cuckoo calls on tlie buret horn 

 Sell voiir cow and buv _\oui- corn." 



And — 



'•Cuckoo oats and woodcock ha\' 

 Make a farmer run awav." 



Natuialists say the Cuckoo, .in depo.sit- 

 ing her eggs in the nests of other birds, 

 first lays them on the ground, then carries 

 them in her mouth and places them in the 

 nest to be hatched by the stranger bird. 



oi- Tin-: i-:.\gij:. 



The Eagle is frequently mentioned in 

 the Old Testament. At least four distinct 

 kinds of Eagles have been observed in 

 Palestine, among which are the golden, 

 the imperial and the spotted. It is also 

 supposed that the Griffon Vulture was 

 sometimes spoken of as an Eagle, as in 

 passages like "Enlarge thy boldness like 

 the Eagle." 



The Eagle is emblematic of St. John 

 the evangelist, because, like the Eagle, 

 he looked on the "sun of glory." The 

 Romans used to let an Eagle fly from 

 the funeral pile of a deceased Emperor. 

 Dryden alludes to the custom in his 

 stanzas on Oliver Cromwell, after his 

 funeral, when he says, officious haste 

 "did let too soon the sacred Eagle fly." 



"Thy youth is renewed like the 

 Eagle's" is a saying founded on the 

 superstition that every ten years the 

 Eagle soars into the "fiery region," and 

 plunges thence into the sea, where, 

 moulting its feathers, it acquires new life. 



BIRDS OF EVIL OMEN. 



Crows are considered unlucky if seen 

 on the left of the observer ; and where 



one flies over a house, at the same time 

 croaking thrice, it is said to prognosticate 

 the death of one of the inmates. The 

 hooting of the Owl is in some countries 

 considered an omen of evil, while in 

 others, where Owls abound, the hoot of 

 the bird means nothing worse than a 

 change of weather. For a white Pigeon 

 to enter a house is in many places looked 

 upon as a warning of a death in the fam- 

 ily, and it is the same when the Pigeon 

 comes and flutters at a window. 



There are superstitious notions and 

 legends connected with many other birds, 

 but space forbids pursuing the subject 

 further at this time. — J)an Dc .'i)/u'/lc in 

 " Salt Lake City Trih/u/c:' 



Late Nesting of the Bob White. 



During the fall and winter of iS9i-i8c)3 

 the ORNiiiioi-OGiST AND OoLOGiST Con- 

 tained several records of late nesting of 

 the Bob White. 



I agree with Mr. P. B. Peal)ody, in re- 

 gard to his statement, "Nobody has 

 touched, as yet, the bottom mark as to 

 latest normal nesting date of the Bob 

 White." In fact, I said the same in sub- 

 stance in my article in the January, 1892, 

 Ornithologist and Oologisi". 



My cousin W. F. Hoag, of Blue Rapids, 

 Marshall County, Kansas, again sends me 

 eggs, with data of two instances of late 

 nesting of the Q]iail. One of them beats 

 his 1889 nest, recorded by me in the Jan- 

 uary Ornithologist and Oologist, by- 

 several days. 



Nest No. I. Found September 32, 

 built in a corn-field, at the foot of a hill of 

 corn, contained ten eggs of the Bob White 

 and one of the domestic lien, incubation 

 about two thirds advanced. The nest was 

 about ten rods from a farm house, which 

 explains the presence of the hen's egg. 



Nest No. 2 was found September 33, 

 built in the prairie grass, and run over by 

 the mower before discovered, which 



