146 



THE OSPREY. 



ally uttered twice, is unmistakable. Frequently, like 

 the Flicker, they will perch across the limb of a tree, 

 and I have often watched them dart out and catch a 

 flying insect. 



Colapti's aiiratus. Flicker, " Wheeler," etc. : This 

 bird of many names is resident, being more numerous 

 in spring and fall, a few only wintering with us. In 

 the fall of the year large numbers congregate together 

 in the Black Gum and Wild Cherry trees, the fruits 

 of these being a favorite diet of theirs. At this sea- 

 son they also spend much of their time on the ground 

 in the open fields hunting ants and other insects. 

 Some sportsmen (?) consider them as game, and they 

 are often exposed for sale in market, tied in bunches 

 with Robins and Larks. 



In nesting they will not infrequently make use of a 

 natural cavity, but generally they excavate a hole 

 from twelve to twenty inches deep in a dead limb or 

 stub, not being at all particular as to the height, as I 



have found them forty feet up, and again only four 

 feet from the ground. 



***** 45- * * * 



Caiiipt-plnliis principalis. Ivory-billed Woodpecker : 

 The only mention I have ever seen of this bird for 

 Maryland is made by Audubon. Rewrites: "On 

 the Atlantic coast. North Carolina may be taken as 

 the limit of its distribution, although now and then an 

 individual of this species may be seen in Maryland." 



Peter Kalm, writing in 1749, says: " 7'icus prin- 

 cipalis, the King of the Woodpeckers, is found here, 

 [Pennsylvania,] though very seldom, and only at a 

 certain season." 



Dryobates horealis Red-cockaded Woodpecker : 

 Whilst I have no record of this species for our State, 

 it has several times been recorded from Pennsylvania 

 and New Jersey, so we will have to live in hope of 

 some lucky individual recording (and securing) a 

 Maryland specimen. 



A TRAGEDY, A COURTSHIP AND A MARRIAGE. 



H. T. VAN OSTR.\ND, MORGANZA, PA. 



AS notes on the habits of the American Osprey 

 now seem to be in order, I will relate an inci- 

 dent in the domestic life of this species which 

 came under my observation. 



Some four or five years ago I was, with a small 

 party, cruising around Penobscot Bay, Maine, in 

 quest of specimens in the ornithological line. One 

 Saturday afternoon found us anchored in a little cove 

 off Pickering Island. Several nests of the Osprey 

 could be plainly seen in the tops of dead Spruces, 

 and others in some of the more conspicuous live ones. 

 As it appeared to be a promising field for observation, 

 we concluded to investigate, and were rewarded with 

 a few badly-incubated eggs and some young chicks. 



From one nest, near the shore of the cave where 

 we were anchored, I took a chick and two eggs, and 

 also shot the male bird. Going along the shore about 

 half a mile, I secured from another nest two young 

 and one egg, and shot the female. A charge of num- 

 ber fours, delivered at long range, brought the male 

 tumbling, end over end, to within a few feet of the 

 water, where he suddenly revived, and flew to a small 

 island about a mile away. That evening the mourn- 

 ful whistle of the female could be heard about her 



nest, bewailing the loss of her mate and young. The 

 next morning found her still in mourning, only leav- 

 ing the trees in the vicinity of the nest to hover, for a 

 few minutes, over her empty home. Taking a walk 

 along the shore, I was surprised to see a bird, un- 

 doubtedly the male I had wounded the day before, 

 mournfully hovering and whistling about his empty 

 nest. All through the forenoon and during the first 

 half of the afternoon, those birds kept up their plaint- 

 ive cries about their respective nests. 



In the afternoon, about four o'clock, the bereaved 

 male visited the bereaved female. A bond of sympa- 

 thy appeared to spring up between them, which, in 

 the course of a couple of hours, seemed to ripen into 

 love ; and when the last beams of the setting sun 

 flickered through the dark Spruces, there could be 

 seen, perched on the top of a dead Spruce, 



" Two souls with but a single thought, 

 Two hearts that beat as one." 



About noon the next day, as a light breeze carried 

 us out of the sheltered cove, the newly wedded couple 

 were observed carrying material and repairing the 

 nest formerly occupied by the female, all their 

 troubles and losses apparently forgotten. 



THE HERMIT THRUSH. 



DR. MORRIS (IIBBS, KALAMAZOO, MICH. 



WITH the exception of the Robin, Titrdtis aon- 

 iilasihk,,- pallasii is the first Thrush to ap- 

 pear in the spring and the last to leave our 

 boundaries in the autumn. Occasionally the Hermit 

 Thrush appears in Southern Michigan during the last 

 week in March, but as a rule they do not become 

 abundant until the middle of April. It is a common 

 sight to see these active, rufous-tailed birds along 



our hedge-rows and tangled thickets of hazel and 

 briars as late as May fifth, and it is not rare to find 

 specimens in wild gardens and shrubbery even in the 

 city. But as the Hermits do not summer in the two 

 lower rows of counties, it is necessary to go north of 

 the 43d parallel to search for the nests. 



During migrations the Hermits do not sing, and 

 aside from their metallic call-notes, are silent until 



