THE YOUNG OOLOGIST, 



47 



Yellow Rail, Wood Frog, Jordan's 

 Manual, 



Yellow Rail {Porzami norelmracinm) — 

 Rathbon, is his " Birds of Central New 

 York, catalogues this bird as follows : 

 " Very rare. One taken September 20th, 

 1Q72.— Gilbert." The Oologist, Vol. i. 

 No. 5, p. 40, July, 18T8, note the capture 

 of a second. The third, of which I have j 

 known, was shot at the Canandaigua 

 Lake, Ontario County. October 6, 1883. 

 I believe that the rarity of the species is 

 largely uppnrent and not real, as the habits 

 of the species are not such as to expose it 

 to sight. 



Wood Frog {Rana leitiporaria yyltn- 

 tica). — I found this species very abundant 

 near Wayland, Steuben County, N. Y., in 

 the summer of 1884. 



Jordan's Manual. — I must beg leave to 

 differ with the opinion expressed in the 

 YouNo; OoLOGTST for March. The M(tn- 

 iiid only profes.se'! to lie a key, and as such, 

 I con-ider it unexcelled. I use it con- 

 stantly for birds, reptiles and batrachians. 

 C. H. Wilder, 

 Wayland. N. Y. 



Rose-Breasted Grosbeak. 



{Ziiinelixlia ludmiciana.) 

 This bird is very common in this local- 

 ity, building its ne.st in all places suitable 

 to its taste. 



The male bird is aljout the size of a 

 Wood Thrush ; the upper parts are shiny 

 tilack ; the under parts are white ; the tail 

 and wings arc marked, with a broad baud 

 of white, similar to the Red-headed Wood- 

 pecker. The breast is marked with a tri- 

 angular spot of rose-carmine ; the bill is» 

 very large — half the size of its head, — 

 tapering suddenly to a point. 



The female is of a brownish cast, dotted 

 with gray and black ; under the wings is 

 marked with pali' yellow ; is considerablj- 

 larger than the male ; she also has a large 

 bill like the male. They sing sweetly, their 

 song being a clear whistle ; this is done in 

 the thickest of the woods. They are pe- 



culiar to hard- wood countries, seldom be- 

 ing found in other places. 



On Jlay 2'-'d, 1884, while out egging. I 

 suddenly came upon the nest of a Grosbeak 

 with the male bird sitting on it. The nest 

 was in a slender sapling, about ten feet 

 from the ground ; it was composed of root- 

 lets ; I counted the eggs through the nest, 

 this can most generally done, owing to the 

 frailness of structure. I climbed the tree 

 and procurrd the eggs, which were three, 

 about 1 in. by f of an inch, of a clear green 

 spotted with olive brown, chiefly at tho 

 large end. I was anxious to .secure the 

 bird, as he was in perfect plumage, I 

 whipped out my sling-aliot and shot him in 

 thi- wing, wounding him to badly to fly. 

 When I went to pick him up, he grabbed 

 me by the linger very hard, which instantly 

 drew the scarlet. I tried to shake him off, 

 but he hung like a bull dog, and did not re- 

 lease his hold until I squeezed him to 

 death. The eggs are very hard to getfrom 

 the nest, owing to the slimuess of the trees, 

 in which they luiild. 



BURTCH MOFFETT, 



Minneapolis, Minn. 



Common Crow. 



This bird, although very abundant, and 

 breeding here in large quantities, the eggs 

 are quite difficult to obtain, owing to the 

 height and difficult trees they select for 

 breeding. To do any collecting one must, 

 be accompanied by climbers and a good de- 

 termination. On April 5lh. 188.5, while in 

 comiiany with three friends, I took ray first, 

 set of eggs. We entered a thick woods, in 

 which no sign of opening buds was to be 

 seen, but plenty of oak trees with the dead 

 leaves still clinging to them. It was in one 

 of these the nest was placed, being only 

 about twenty-two feet from the ground. 

 The nest was near the edge of the woods. 

 We cautiously approached, 1 leading, and 

 were soon informed of the idea that it was 

 inhabited, by the fact that the tail of the 

 female was sticking out. Arrived at the 

 foot of the tree, and I searched an appro- 

 priate missilr, which was soon.found in the 



