96 



THE OOLUtriSr 



tance with little "savannarum," go in 

 early June to one of our smaller mead- 

 ows and sit down. You will not have 

 long to wait. 



Soon you will be listening to a long, 

 peculiar, grasshopper trill, which you 

 will easily recognize on account of its 

 shrillness. 



To tind the author, however, (unless 

 'he be conspicuously perched on a weed 

 stem), is quite another matter. He is 

 an adept at ventriloquism and will at 

 once seem in front and on either side 

 of you. 



There — at last j'ou have him located, 

 just a few steps — not over a rod in ad- 

 vance. You tread softly, nearer and 

 nearer, step by step, but you seem to 

 get no closer to the squeak coming 

 trom the clover. 



When you have advanced probably 

 twenty-five yards and stopped with a 

 puzzled expression on your face, you 

 suddenly discover the little deceiver, 

 perched on a weed or fence post, an- 

 other twenty-tive yards ahead. There, 

 he has been, all the time and you are 

 surprised at the distance the iittle voice 

 has penetrated. 



During the hottest hours of midday 

 when the sun is high in the heavens and 

 all other bird-voices are stilled, the 

 Grasshopper Sparrow is in his most vi- 

 vacious mood and throughout the long 

 summer day until dusk has fairly fallen, 

 his notes are continually heard. 



The nest of the Grasshopper Sparrow 

 is placed on the ground— often in a de- 

 pression below the surface. 



It is so neatly and admirably concealed 

 as to generally escape detection and 

 only by the most patient efforts and 

 closely applied searching, can one hope 

 to find it. 



May 27th of the present season while 

 crossing a small meadow, I flushed a 

 female Grasshopper Sparrow. As she 

 fluttered from under my feet, beating 

 the ground with her little wings as if 

 sorely wounded, I could but admire this 



ruse [.she was ofiVring to attract me 

 from the nest. 



I thrust my walking slick into the 

 ground and prepared for the search. 



On hands and knees I carefully ex- 

 amined (as I thought) every square 

 inch of surface within a six foot circle, 

 but for a long time I was baffled. 



Only by retreating and repeatedly 

 Hushing the female was 1 able to linrt 

 the nest. 



It was composed entirely of grasses 

 and sunken in the ground -neatly tuck- 

 ed under a plaintain leaf, effectually 

 hiding it from above. 



The five eggs are of a beautiful pearly 

 white, spotted only on the larger end 

 with rather heavy dots and blotches of 

 bright sienna brown. 



Isaac E. Hess, 

 Philo, Ills. 



Forced "Cowbirdism." 



A few seasons since a pair of Blue- 

 birds had a nest in a bird-house of a 

 friend. He was working in the building 

 on which the bird-house was situated, 

 and disturbed the old bird, who had not 

 finishetl the set. She Hew to a Chipping 

 Sparrow's nest near by, and deposited 

 an egg from which the Chipping Spar- 

 row hatched and reared a young Blue- 

 bird. 



R. W. SxitlCKLAND, 



Forestville, N. Y. 

 Where Are My Long-eared Owls. 



During the nesting season of the Long- 

 eared Owls in 1888 and 1889, it was not 

 uncommon for me to lind two or more 

 nests in a days tramp, and see at least 

 a dozen of the birds. But since the 

 spi'ing of 1889, I haven't seen but one of 

 the birds, which was Oct. 24, 1891. 

 When observed the Owl was sitting on 

 an oak log, eating a chipmunk he had 

 captured. Perhaps some reader of the 

 OoLOGiST can explain the absence of 

 my favorite Owl. 



Thos. S. Hill, 

 Knoxville, Iowa. 



