THE OSPREY. 



63 



alone too long-, so I made her fast to the 

 pasture fence, and returned to the vicinity 

 of the nest, but without sig-ht of the 

 owner, and so was compelled to leave the 

 neig-hborhood for an hour, and on my 

 return the bird flushed ag-ain, and very 

 accommodating-ly alig^hted on a g^opher 

 knoll, some forty yards away. Only one 

 of my shot seemed to take effect, and 

 that iust above the eye, but making- a 

 clean killing-, and g-iving- me a specimen 

 practically perfect for examination, and 

 if Dr. Coues has g-iven in his Kev a more 

 accurate description of any species than 

 of this, I have not discovered it. Except 

 for a difference of a trifling- fraction of 

 an inch in measurement of body my spec- 

 imen did not vary in the least from his 

 description. 



The eg-g-s numbered four, incubation 

 barely perceptible, and are now in the 

 collection of J. Parker Norris, so that I 

 cannot g-ive accurately the measurements 

 or marking-s, but I recall that they cover 

 very similar to the set described above, 

 except that one eg-g- was in marked con- 

 trast to the remainder by being- quite 

 uniformly sprinkled instead of spotted, 

 and further, that the marking-s of none 

 were quite so rich in tint as the set taken 

 last year. 



Some two weeks later, while driving 

 across an abandoned prairie farm, a 

 female Sparrow of this species flushed 

 just ahead, and turning- my horse quickly 

 aside, I saved the nest from being- tram- 

 pled, but some marauder had previously 

 made a visit for a broken eg-g-, with con- 

 tents well dried, lay just outside and the 

 nest contained but two egg-s, evidently so 

 far gone in incubation that I concluded to 

 leave them unmolested further. This 

 nest was similar to the one last described, 

 except that it was located among- a shorter, 

 scantier growth of g-rass and without an}- 

 weed stalk of any kind for a shade. The 

 advanced stag-e of incubation showed in 

 in the duller g-round and somewhat faded 

 marking-s of the eg-g-s. 



I cannot understand why the nest of 

 this species should be so rare, or at least, 

 so difficult to locate. Dr. Coues says 

 {Key, p. 361 ) that he "found it breeding- 

 in profusion in Dakota, taking- 75 speci- 

 mens one season," and I am certain that 

 for the past two years, at least, it has 

 been a common summer resident in this 

 reg-ion; yet in all my twelve seasons here 

 and in all mj^ hundred.s of mile of travel 

 and search over our prairies, I have met 

 with their nests in only the three instan- 

 ces described. 



Red/headed Woodpecker Locating His Prey, 



BY CHARLES SLOAN KEID. 



□ OES the Woodpecker locate his prey 

 by the sense of hearing- or that of 

 of touch? Not long- since I had 

 the rare opportunity' of observing- Mclan- 

 erpes ervthroccplialus out for food. I saw 

 him when he first perched upon a limb 

 near its articulation with the main trunk 

 of a hug-e pine. He moved slowly for- 

 ward, ever and anon as he advanced, 

 placing- the side of his scarlet-topped 

 head against the timber as if he were list- 

 ening- with an ear like the human aural 

 member. At length he seemed to have 

 located his prey, and beg-an to hammer 

 away vig-orously, while clasping- the limb 

 more closely with his drooping- wing-s. 



Now was the attitude mentioned one of 

 listening- or one of divining- by the sense 

 of touch? I am rather inclined to think 

 it the sense of touch. It is not impossi- 

 ble that a finely sensitive g-ang-lion may 

 be located on either side of the head, which 

 may communicate cognizance of the very 



slig-htest vibratory movement. The little 

 pine sawyer, or borer, which is a honiic 

 houchc to the Woodpecker, when working- 

 away just under the bark of a tree trunk, 

 is easily heard at a distance of three or 

 four feet by the attentive ear, yet the 

 sound is deceptive as to the local point 

 from which it proceeds. But by placing- 

 the fore muscle of the second finger 

 lightly upon the bark, moving- it slowly 

 and carefully along the surface, the slig-ht 

 jar occasioned by the fine sawing- of the 

 little worker is soon perceptible to the 

 sense of touch, and the sawyer located. 

 But when it is working- from the heart of 

 the limb of a tree, there can scarcely be 

 an appreciable sound even to the most 

 delicate aural nerve. These must, how- 

 ever, necessarily be generated a vibratory 

 motion, be it ever so slight; and this 

 enables the Woodpecker to locate his 

 prey by the superfine sense of touch. 



