38 



THE OSPREY. 



greatly tickled bj the finding-, in a trice, 

 of a well-begun but long^ since deserted 

 foundation, coarse weeds of a marsh- 

 hawk nest. While I was critically ex- 

 amining- this the veritable male, whose 

 mate had thus bet^un her season's work, 

 sailed carelessly overhead. With dig-nity 

 he floated beyond, barely deig-ning- to 

 notice me; but his quick drop, four hun- 

 dred yards or so away among the flag-s, 

 broug-ht me at once to my feet. 



Barel}' had he flushed ere I had covered 

 half the intervening- distance, when, to 

 the rear, I heard the female's well known 

 crackle. Of an instant she was upon me, 

 darting- with screechy iteration within a 

 few feet of my head, rising- fift}- feet or 

 so above and a hundred feet away, and 

 sweeping- swiftl}- down ag-ain and at me, 

 voice and wing joining in the spiteful 

 impetuousness of her attack. "Thank 

 you, ma'am," said I, "you're very kind," 

 and away I ran, turning- back to the 

 marsh-marg-in, and curled myself into the 

 smallest possible heap among- the rankest 

 available weeds. 



For perhaps five minutes the hawk 

 swooped down at me repeatedly and then, 

 suddenly, as if the thought of approach- 

 ing evening and rapidly cooling eggs had 

 flashed upon her, she swept away with a 

 graceful whirl in exactly the direction 

 the male had previously taken, and not a 

 hundred feet from where he had settled 

 down, she dropped swiftly and disap- 

 peared among the cat-tail flags two hun- 

 dred yards awa}'. 



Never was bee-line more steadily or 

 more eagerly taken. Nearer and nearer 

 now, at last but a hundred, seventy, fifty 

 feet, from the fascinating spot; pace by 

 pace, nearer, and at forty feet, a rust}' 

 and hair-brown head and neck are 

 craned, cautiously upmost, and then, 

 into the air with one sweep of wings. 



It was a beautifully perfect nest of rose 

 twigs, weed stems and fine g-rass, raised 

 but a few inches above the sphagnum 

 (which at that spot was unusually' dry) 

 in a two-foot open space among coarse 

 and fine grass and small cat-tails. 



There were five unspotted eggs. In- 

 cubation, as I partly blew and and sealed 

 the eggs, to be left for later photograph- 

 ing, advanced to well formed soft em- 

 bryos. They were destroyed later, 

 probably by birds, either Franklin's (kill 

 or Forster's Tern being the depredator; 



one clean-sucked egg (bearing my drill 

 hole and a narrow beak-thrust besides the 

 broken area ) being found ten days later 

 on a sphagnum tussock, a hundred feet 

 from the nest, it apparently having been 

 dug up out of the "moss." (Another set 

 of five eggs vvas used in photographing 

 the nest. ) Of the parent birds the male 

 was quite young and the female an old, 

 faded and dialapidated specimen. 



( TO BE CONTINUED. ) 



Autumn Thoughts, 



The leaves are falling- and turning brown, 

 The ripened nuts come tumbling- down, 

 The birds are leaving- us, one by one, 

 Thus is the work of Nature done. 



Out in the fields the g-rain stocks nod 



To the 3'ellow plumes of the golden-rod. 



And the merry farmer cheerily sing-s 



Of the happiness sweet that the harvest bring-s. 



But the woodland now is dark and still, 

 Nowhere is heard the song-ster's trill; 

 The solemn owl alone is there 

 To stand the blasts of wintry air. 



We miss the thrush, the lark, and then 

 The cheery note of the little wren; 

 Our thoug-hts take on a sad refrain, 

 And we almost wish 'twere spring again. 



Nature well has fixed the seasons. 

 Using judgment in her reasons; 

 For when winter her cold blasts bring. 

 We'll wistfulU' wait for balmy spring. 



— J. R. BONWELIy. 



(Bcncral IHotcs, 



POKE BEKKV COLORING. 



During the autumn the poke berry 

 {phvtolacca dccaudra) furnishes food for 

 many of our birds. In several cases it 

 was noticed that the brilliant coloring 

 matter of the berries tinted the whole 

 flesh, and in the abdominal regions some 

 times came through the skin into the 

 roots of the feathers. This autumn I 

 have examined stomachs of the following 

 species which contained these berries: 

 Red-headed Woodpecker, Flicker, Mourn- 

 ing Dove, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Robin, 

 Black-poll Warbler and Brown Thresher. 

 H. T. Van Ostkand. 



Morganza, Washington Co., Pa. 



LATE NESTING OF THE TOWHEE. 



August 28, 1891, I found a nest in 

 Baltimore countv with three hard set 



