63 



THE OOLOaiST. 



are two important faculties tliat may be 

 brought into exercises— accurate obser- 

 vation and the power of expressing 

 definitely what is seen. 



The College of Agriculture of Cor- 

 nell University, has, under the Nixon or 

 Agricultural Extension bill, undertaken 

 to assist, free of expense, all teachers 

 who wish to introduce this work into 

 their schools. All parents and teach- 

 ers of New York state, interested in 

 this work are asked to send their ad- 

 dress for more detailed information to: 



Chief Clebk, College of Agrtcul- 

 TUKE, Ithaca, N. Y. 



Carolina Wren in Western New York 

 in Winter. 



On March 25, 1895 I was shown the 

 skin of a large Wren shot by Alfred 

 Garrett of this place about Dec. 23,1894. 

 I at once pronounced it Thryothorus 

 luclovincianus, but could hardly believe 

 that it was taken here at that time of 

 the year. I have carefully investigated 

 the case and find the facts to be as fol- 

 lows: The bird was shot at a saw mill 

 about four miles north of Batavia, Gen- 

 esee Co., N. Y. Mr. Garrett says that 

 the owner of the mill had been feeding 

 the bird regularly, which perhaps ac- 

 counts for its staying so late. He says 

 that it was singing finely when he first 

 saw it and did not seem to act like a 

 migrating bird. I cannot find the spec- 

 ies on any list of the birds of Western 

 New York, even as a summer resident, 

 and think this is very unusual. 



E. H Short, 

 Gaines, N. Y. 



A Little Short. 



E. H. Snort has i-ecently secured a 

 very fine specimen. Those who have 

 seen it pronounce it perfect, although 

 some do say it is a little Short. 'Tis 

 strange Ernest makes no mention of it 

 in his "Exchange Extraordinary"' 

 this month. 



Cape May Warbler. 



My rarest for '94 was a set of 1-4 Cape 

 May Warbler, a very I'are breeder in 

 this locality. The nest was placed in a 

 small fir tree, 3 feet up and 18 inches 

 from the trunk on a shady slope of a 

 hill covered with a dense growth of 

 small trees and bushes. The nest prop- 

 er was made almost wholly of very tine 

 dry spruce twigs, somewhat loosely 

 constructed, with a lining of ho"se hair. 

 Eggs have a somewhat creamy ground 

 color, blotched about the larger end 

 with burnt umber and lilac. Incuba- 

 tion begun. Parent birds quite tame. 

 The first set taken about here for many 

 years. A. L. Blanchard, 



North Yarmouth, Me. 



A Novel Egg- Blower. 



T always take great pleasure in learn- 

 ing some new contrivance in the oolo- 

 gical line to lessen the labor of the en- 

 thusiastic collector and having quite a 

 wind saving contrivance I will let my 

 brother collectors know of it. This 

 wind saver is Gas. There is gas in our 

 house and when I want to blow an egg 

 1 hitch a small hose onto the jet and 

 the other end I have attached to the 

 blowpipe. Drill the hole in the egg, 

 then put the blowpipe in position, turn 

 on a little gas and out comes the con- 

 tents of Mr. Egg. Jay G. Smith. 



A Couple of Dog's, 



In response to your call for contri- 

 vances of aid to oologists I wish to say 

 I find a couple of dogs, one English set- 

 ter and one pointer that I have, of ex- 

 cellent service in locating nests of the 

 ground builders, having found with 

 their aid in the last few years a great 

 many valuable sets, such as Short-ear- 

 ed Owl, Marsh Hawk, Prairie Chicken, 

 Quail, Woodcock, Meadowlark and 

 others to numerous to mention. 



J. H. Brown. 



