I'UE OOLOGIS'l-. 



99 



-nr\(\ itivigoratiug. v\ith which the great 

 Father has tilled and glorified His 

 world. 



I must apologize to your readers for 

 taking up so much spatse with matter 

 so "unscientitic." But it is a part of the 

 fairness of scientific inquiry, as well as 

 of the generosity of fraternal courtesy, 

 to hear both sides. Those of us that 

 have read and heartily enjoyed the 

 OoLOGiST for years wouh' fain have it 

 the exponent of all that is generous and 

 uplifting, in huniaii thought and human 

 feeling. 



P. P. Peabody, 

 Haliock, Minn. 



Feather Lined Nest of American Red- 

 start Containing- Freak Eg-gfs. 



On May 30, ] 896, I found a peculiar 

 nest of the American Redstart which 

 also contained a set of four peculiar 

 eggs. The framework of the nest is 

 made of tine grasses and narrow strip- 

 pings »)f grape vine bark and the out- 

 side being covered with a grayish col- 

 ored material from weed stalks which 

 gives it the appearance of a Yellow 

 Warbler's nest. The peculiar feature 

 about this nest however, is the profuse 

 lining of feathers evidently brought by 

 the Redstarts from a hen yard about 15 

 rods away. I have found several nests 

 of Redstarts with a feather or two stuck 

 into the nest but the usual lining of fine 

 grasses and hair prevail here. Three 

 of the eggs are freaks both in points of 

 size and shape. Tiiey are pyriform or 

 pear shaped after the manner of Kill- 

 deers eggs and they measure .74x.53, 

 .74X.53, .74X.53, .GSx.rjO respectively. 

 C. F. Stone. 



Branchport, N. Y. 



the changes in opinion which a few 

 years have brought about. This lady 

 was most anxious to learn all she could 

 about birds and also to learn taxidermy 

 for use in her teaching. She told me 

 that her scholars showed such enthusi- 

 asm that it was hard for her to keep 

 pace with them in such lines. 



While we welcome the giving away of 

 the old-time neglect of natural science 

 studies, yet this movement carries with 

 it a new danger With thousands of 

 enthusiastic young students roaming 

 field and forest what will be the result? 

 How can the few individals of a rare 

 species escape these eager hands. And 

 of this number of eager searchers, how 

 many will maintain their love and labor 

 in the tield of nature through ripe 

 years? When species after species has 

 has been gradually depleted into event- 

 ual extermination, what percentage can 

 be said to have been sacrificed in a good 

 cause? 



Can the tide of study be turned from 

 collecting and mounting to observing 

 and investigating? Can the gun give 

 place to the note book? Or what will 

 be the outcome of this growing interest 

 in natural science and will the value of 

 protection and preservation be realized 

 before that which is studied is forever a 

 thing of the past. 



And if th- worse of the two alterna- 

 tives come to pass on whom will the re- 

 sponsibility rest, or who of all can 

 shake away an individual responsi, 

 bility. B. L. Bowdish. 



Ndture Study. 



A little conversation which I recently 

 had with a lady whose occupation is 

 teacher in r district schools, illustrates 



Nesting- Habits of the Black-Throated 

 Green Warbler. 



Although this bird seems to be fairly 

 common in this locality, I see very lit- 

 tle in the Oologist as regards him. He 

 might be called rare by those not ac- 

 quainted with his song. After learning 

 his song I was surprised to find how 

 many were in the woods about here. 



