from a perch near by, paused a moment overhead to seize an insect, and 

 returned to the tree. In a few moments it repeated the maneuvre, then 

 tlew into a hole in a pine stub near by, where it evidently had a nest of 

 young. Soon it was out again making other captures with which it re- 

 turned to the nest, stopping only long enough to deliver the morsels. I 

 watched the entire performance repeated at least a half-dozen times. 

 Whether the bird impaled the insects with its tongue I was unable to 

 determine, but was led to think that it did so from the fact that it invaria- 

 bly caught two insects before returning to the nest, holding the first while 

 watching for and while catching the second. I can best describe the 

 motions of this bird by comparing with Tyra?2)ius fyrantius in the same 

 act. Anyone who has closely watched the latter bird knows the peculiar 

 upward turn and the deliberate extension of the head and neck as it takes 

 an insect. The insects caught by the Woodpecker were rather large and 

 appeared to belong to the order l^ricJioftera. 



[This habit is mentioned on page 22, Bulletin No. 7, U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, Preliminary Report on the Food of Woodpeckers, 

 by F. E. L. Beal, Assistant Ornithologist. The credit of the observation 

 is given to Dr. C. Hart Merriam. I also have seen the Red-heads make 

 sallies from some high perch ofter insects, but never noticed it except in 

 the fall. — Lynds Jones.] 



Effect of a Storm on Hummingbirds. — One result of the extreme 

 cold just after the middle of May, 1894, was a terrible slaughter of Hum- 

 mingbirds. On the eighteenth of that month snow fell rapidly here for 

 about an hour, the flakes being very large, wet and heavy. During this 

 storm a Hummingbird flew into one of our school rooms and remained 

 till the storm had passed. Within the following week the bodies of nine 

 dead Hummingbirds were brought to me, all evidently killed by the 

 storm or the cold weather following. I was told of several more being 

 found dead or stupid with cold during that period. Previous to the 

 storm the month had been unusually warm and pleasant. As eight 

 of the nine birds brought me were males, I infer that migrations were 

 then in progress and that few females had arrived. Basing an estimate 

 on the territory from which these nine birds were gathered, and assum- 

 ing that Muskegon represented an average of the state in advancement 

 of the season and in storm conditions, at least 100,000 Hummingbirds 

 were destroyed in Michigan by that storm. But it seems improbable 

 that more than one in ten of those destroyed was discovered, and the 

 actual number of these beautiful and tender creatures that perished must 

 have been much greater than the above estimate. — C. D. McLouth, 

 Muskcf^^on, Mich. 



