dlogi^ti 



No. 8. 



The Sandpiper. 



The little sandpiper that has a great stride 



Like a king of the fairies, andtoj'S with the tide, 



Is a jolly good fellow of iiiliiiite pride. 



He signals your presence, assuming much fear, 

 And pipes of the danger that's coming too near. 

 Or whistles alarm that others may hear. 



He eyes you obliquely, a comical way, 



And flutters a distance as much as to say. 



Thus far and no farther, and there you may stay. 



But if you should trespass he'll nod in disdain. 

 And tell his dis])leasure with might and with main. 

 And skim o'er the water to safety again. 



that when my climber descended into the 

 j hollow after the eggs he was lost to sight, 

 I and only got out with extreme difficulty. 

 I It was ludicrous to hear him seratchiug 

 around inside the stub like an imprisoned 

 I bear. 



From a hole in an asli tree, which last 

 year I took a set of Mottled Owl's eggs, 

 with both parents, I took another set this 

 Spring. The eggs were covered with 

 bU:)od, cold and broken, and no bird seen. 

 What sort of domestic tragedy occurred 



When danger has passed him he .settles his plumes, 'here we may only conjecture. Were the 



old birds surprised and murdered by some 

 enemy, or did they bring some living 

 quarry into their home which overpowered 

 the little household ? 



On the 28th day of March the first set 



The mien of importance he qnicklj- assumes. 

 Subaqueous searching he gravely assumes. 



Ah, little sandpiper of fairly-like stride, 



With beautiful nature so closely allied, 



I've noted thee often with love and with pride. 



Jerome Buknett. 



The Season of 1880. 



.J. M. W. 



of Red-tailed Hawk's eggs was taken from 

 Brown's mountain ; the first set of Red- 

 shouldered Hawks, April 5 ; the first set of 

 Cooper's, April 25 ; and the first egg of 

 Sharp-shinned Hawks taken were laid May 

 Another season's work in an old New i 16. Though I have harried the Red- 

 Eugland Field has determined no new j shouldered Hawks since '75, I have col- 

 species, and presents no very fresh array | lected as many eggs as usual this season, 

 of oological facts. But all annotations of | four young last year, four eggs the year 

 bird life are worth looking over, and the ' before, and four young in '76. From this 



recurrence of certain phases worth record- 

 ing. 



Two old female Barred Owls, which 

 had their partners shot last Spring, mated 

 again and bred as usual in the same places 

 this year ; the first clutch taken March 30 



it would appear that this female regularly 

 lays clutches of four ; but, per contra, I 

 know other Red. shouldered Hawks, which 

 I have followed as closely, which annually 

 lay but two eggs. In a Marsh Hawk's 

 nest this season the last young bird broke 



This would indicate that these large owls j the shell one week after the appearance of 

 are comparatively abundant though we do ; the first ; but, on the other hand, a set of 

 not meet them in our every day walks, j Cooper's Hawks all hatched upon the same 

 The facility with which some of our other ! day. That the young of the large Hawks 

 raptores are mated when one of the pair j should appear at intervals need not be sur- 

 is killed, I have before referred to. prising, since the eggs are not laid daily. 



One of these Barred Owls had its re- | A week is occupied in laying the clutch of 

 treat in a chestnut stub of great size, so Buteos. The Cooper's Hawk occupies 



