THE YOUNG OOLOGIST. 



17 



behind signs, in tjie mouldings, in fact, 

 every place there is room to squeeze. I 

 have put up several houses with tops, 

 which can be opened. From one nest 1 

 took my "egg-a-day" as regular as I did 

 from my hens. I took seventeen eggs from 

 that nest. I then tacked a piece of tin 

 over the door with one lack, and tied a 

 string to it ; at night 1 pulled the string 

 which pulled the tin over the door, and 

 then take the bird out. I killed many that 

 way. I also took over seventy eggs of the 

 sparrow last summer. Let us hear from 

 others, and all help to drive o>it the pests. 

 J. S. G., 

 Vineland, N. J. 



FROM NEBRASKA. 



After reading the article from ''L.," of 

 Manhattan. Kansas, in regard to the Song 

 Sparrow, I will sa)' that 1 have been seven 

 years in Nebraska, and have never found a 

 Song Sparrow's nest, nor ever seen the bird. 

 I live about 100 miles N. W. N. from 

 Manhatlan. Being a native of western 

 Massachuselt-i. I am as familiar with the 

 bird, as with the crow or robin. 



Thi-ee years ago I saw the lirst roljiu that 

 I ever encountered in this count}'. I 

 enquired diligently, and could only find 

 one man who had ever seen the bird here 

 before. He saw a pair the year before. 

 Last year I found five nests in this vicinity, 

 and the other day (March 11th) I saw a 

 pair out in mj- front yard, which I can see 

 among the little apple trees as I wrile. 

 Last summer I took 4 eggs of what I sup- 

 posed to be the Blue .Jay, but which, on 

 reaching home, differed so radically from 

 mj' other Jay eggs, that after a very care- 

 ful study nf Corns' description, I concluded 

 to call them the eggs of Woodliouse Jay. 

 Coues says : Rocky Mountain region from 

 "Wyoming and Idaho, "southward" and 

 says also, "they live in the scrub-oak and 

 other thickets." I found this nest in a 

 hedge of young l)0.\'-elders and cotton-wood, 

 built in four rows to protect some young 

 fruit trees. Tlie Jleadow Lark came this 

 year Manli lOtli, when I was building a 

 house jiiht outside of town, and perched on 

 the dead corn-stalks, and uttered its pecu- 

 liar cry occasionally all day, hid did not sing 

 until the following morning, when it 

 greeted me with its well known melody. 



I omitted to mention while speaking of 

 the sparrows, that the Black-throated 

 Bunting .seems to take the place of the song 

 sparrow here, being found in large num- 

 ber,s. They came this year Mai'ch '2d. in a 

 large tiock. 



iPhe Chipping Sparrow I have never 

 seen here. 



Can some of vour southern readers tell 



me the true name of the "Moss Bird," I 

 cannot describe the bird, but found its 

 nest on the dry limb of an Ash tree, a hall 

 of moss deeply hollowed, with eggs about 

 (he size of the chickadee, white, dotted all 

 over with minute dots of various shades. 

 The eg.gs I have were so far advanced in 

 inculiatiou, that the shells are rather 

 difficult to describe. Perhaps the foregoing 

 attempt at a description will be sufficient 

 for some reader to identify them. 



Yours, N. A. S. 



York, Nebraska. 



We think friend S's. "Moss bird" is 



doubtless the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.— [Ed. 



FROM WISCONSIN. 



During the past winter a farmer near 

 here was in the habit of regularly putting 

 out oats and bread for a pair of White-bel- 

 lied Nuthatches (Sitta earoliruiims) which 

 remained about his house. The birds 

 would take the oats and deposit them in 

 the rough bark of an oak which grew near 

 by. eating them at their leisure. Was all 

 this trouble taken for convenience in eating 

 or as a provision against future want ? 

 They ate the bread where it was placed. 

 Thought thev lived entirely on insect food, 

 lias any one'else found them eating vege- 

 table food ? 



Six Redthroatcd Divers {Colymbus sep- 

 l,'n(rionalis)wtiTL- caught on the lake near 

 here during the past winter. Some, if not 

 all, were caught by boys who went out on 

 the ice. When once "lighted it was with 

 s;Teat difficulty that they could get started 

 again, and if one was" quick enough he 

 could easily catch it. The bird is rarely 

 found here I am told. 



Shot a Cedar Waxwing (Ampelis ceco- 

 driiiH) last spring with the tail feathers tip- 

 ped with the w^ix-like api)endages. They 

 were imperfectly developed, some of the 

 feathers lacking" them entirely. Is this a 

 usual occurrence ? 



BIRD AHR1VALS FOR 1885. 



Shore Lark{Eir»ii>p/iilit (ili'i'str'H) Feb. 28. 

 Northern Shrike [Liiiiinx Imrealis) Mar. 2. 

 Blue Jay {Ci^anoeitta crininta) March 3. 

 Red-headed 'Woodpecker (Melaiwrpfs ery- 

 throcqihalui) March 7. C. A. K., 



Milwaukee, Wis. 



March 1, 1885 While out in the woods 

 to-day I saw the feMthers and skeleton of 

 an owl in the narrow crotch between two 

 trees, and under these were the skull and 

 Ijones of a rabbit. They had evidently got 

 caught there while the owl was sirugglmg 

 with his prey. Found a Little Red Screech 

 Owl dead in the snow. 



