THE OSPREY. 



147 



the nesting grounds are reached. Therefore, it fol- 

 lows that these birds are but little known to the col- 

 lectors of our southern counties, while their nesting 

 habits are secret from those who do not follow them 

 to their summer quarters. 



This is a very pleasing bird in an interesting fam- 

 ily. In truth, I do not know of a Thrush which 

 appeals to me stronger than this one, both as to its 

 pleasing manners, as well as its agreeable song. But 

 after a moment's thought, I feel that I might say the 

 same regarding all the other Thrushes visiting our 

 State. They are all very interesting, and each in its 

 selected quarters fills a position which cannot be — or 

 at least is not — filled by any other bird. 



The Hermit Thrush frequently selects the edges of 

 slashings — /. e., sections of butchered pineries, — for 

 its summer home ; and in these situations, where the 

 wreck of once proud forests is to be seen, the songs 

 of the Hermit bubble up and lend a charm amid 

 the waste and destruction of our fast disappearing 

 forests. 



The nests are well concealed, and as thoroughly so 



as with any of the larger ground-ne.^t builders. One 

 nest was situated among a lot of small shoots and 

 beneath a small bush. It contained three eggs. The 

 most thoroughly concealed nest that I have met with 

 was placed beneath a fallen pine bough that still held 

 the clinging dried needles. The nest would not have 

 been discovered if we had not passed within a yard 

 of it and frightened the bird. It was built just within 

 the edge of a pinery, next to a clearing, and contained 

 three eggs, which were incubated. 



The nest is a shiftlessly built affair, and almost in- 

 variably falls to pieces, unless extreme care is used, 

 in removing it to the cabinet. The eggs are of a 

 beautiful blue, and quite similar in size and shade to 

 those of the Wilson's Thrush, though, as I under- 

 stand it, are slightly smaller than those of the Veery, 

 and are generally, I believe, a shade lighter. 



The Hermits are the last to leave us in the autumn, 

 always excepting the Robin, and they may be seen in 

 hedgerows and thickets in November in Southern 

 Michigan. This is a rare singer, and is well known 

 to all lovers of bird melody. 



ODD NESTING SITES. 



ROBERT C. WOODHOUSE, NEW YORK CITY. 



1HAVE in my collection a set of five Crow's eggs 

 taken from a nest fifty feet up in an Oak growing 

 on Goat Island at Niagara Falls. The tree over- 

 hung the falls, and was always wet with the ever- 

 rising spray ; still the eggs were considerably ardvanced 

 in incubation, and would undoubtedly have hatched. 

 At Van Cortland Park, New York City, there is a 

 large stone bridge, crossing the railroad track, the 

 arch of which is about forty-five feet above the rails. 

 In the crevices about the keystones of this bridge a 

 colony of several pairs of Rough-winged Swallows 

 nest annually. The trains pass directly under the 



keystones, but they do not seem to disturb the birds. 

 These are the only Rough-winged Swallows, to my 

 knowledge, breeding within ten miles of the city. 



A pair of Chimney Swifts nested in the open top 

 of a sewer in Central Park, in the spring of 1892. 

 The top of the sewer was about fifteen feet high, and 

 resembled a factory chimney, on a small scale. 



At Red Bank, N. J., the residents are compelled to 

 place pyramid-shaped iron screens on the chimneys 

 of their houses to prevent the Ospreys nesting on 

 them. One man who neglected to do this soon found 

 the chimney of his house filled with rubbish. 



WAR ON THE RED-HEADED WOODPECKER. 



THE Red-headed Woodpeckers of Kansas City 

 seem to be in trouble ; but we fear the griev- 

 ances of the street railway company are some- 

 what exaggerated. The following was published in 

 the A'/!/!S(is Ci/v S/ar, and is kindly sent us by Mr. 

 John A. Bryant : 



"The little Red-headed Woodpecker has become 

 such a nuisance on the electric lines of the Metropol- 

 itan street railway system, that it has become neces- 

 sary to appoint an official Woodpecker exterminator. 

 The title has been conferred on Coffee Rice, an Inde- 

 pendence young man, and yesterday he killed nine- 

 teen of the destructive birds on the Independence 

 line. The Woodpeckers attack the large poles which 

 hold up the feed cables and dig holes into the center 

 and downward to a depth of more than a foot. In 

 the bottom of this hole they build their nests and rear 

 their young. The holes are round, about two inches 

 in diameter. The result is that in a season the water 



gets into the heart of the pole and it rots off and 

 breaks, requiring a new pole to be set up ; whereas, 

 ordinarily, the life of the big pole is several years. A 

 large number of the electric line poles have been 

 ruined this way, and there was a threatened loss of 

 many thousand dollars unless the pest was checked. 

 ->} * « jt jg averred by some that the Woodpecker 

 digs in the electric line poles because he hears the 

 buzzing sound and thinks it is a worm working in the 

 wood. To support this theory the Woodpecker may 

 be seen at work and he will stop every few strokes 

 and turn his head, as if listening, and after a moment 

 renews his attack with greater vigor. But the fact 

 that their nests are found at the bottom of many of 

 these holes would indicate that the red-headed bird 

 knew what he was about from the start. There is a 

 law against killing any kind of a song bird or insect 

 eater, which are very stringent regulations. It covers 

 the case of the Red headed Woodpecker." 



