44 



THE OOLOGIST. 



beauty they are one of the special des- 

 iderata of collectors about Philadel- 

 phia, and personally collected sets are 

 not at all common. 



RICHARD C. HARLOW. 



Some New Year's Day Observations 



In Southwestern Indiana. 



The following list of creatures were 

 seen abroad and stirring: 



Angle-worms, a grasshopper, ants, 

 frogs (croaking) and the following 

 birds: Bluebird, Bewicli's Wren, 

 Carolina Wren, Cardinal, Song Spar- 

 row, Tree Sparrow, Carolina Chicka- 

 dee, Tufted Titmouse, Meadow-lark, 

 American Goldfinch, Golden-crowned 

 Kinglet, Brown Creeper, Blue Jay, 

 American Crow, Slate-colored Junco, 

 Belted Kingfisher, Red-tailed Hawk, 

 Flicker, Hairy Woodpecker, Downy 

 Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker 

 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, White- 

 breasted Nuthatch. That's twenty- 

 three birds, and now I will do like- 

 wise. 



23 for me. 



Cornelius F. Posson. 

 Vincennes, Ind. 



A Late Nest of Song Sparrow. 



While out walking last year, August 

 7th, I flushed a Song Sparrow from a 

 hay stack, and after a short search I 

 found its nest, which contained four 

 badly incubated eggs. The nest was 

 made entirely of horse hair, and was 

 placed about six inches back in the 

 stack. On coming there three days 

 later, I found that the eggs were 

 hatched. This time the birds were 

 absolutely fearless, and the sitting 

 bird allowed me to touch her with my 

 hand. Is this not an unusual nesting 

 site for this bird? 



Yours! respectfully, 



ISAAC VAN KAMMEN. 

 Grand Rapids, Mich. 



Mr. Ernest H. Short: — 



Dear Sir. — I thought that the fol- 

 lowing would be of interest to you: 



A friendly White-throated Sparrow, 

 Zonotrichia albicollis. On May 4, 1907, 

 I went to Romstadt on a collecting 

 trip, about seven or eight miles from 

 this city (Toledo, O.) During the day 

 I took a male White-throated Spar- 

 row and placed it in a cone in my 

 collecting box, supposing it to be 

 dead. Imagine my surprise upon open- 

 ing the box the next day to have the 

 bird fly out, all around the room and 

 into the hall. I tried to catch it, but 

 in vain, until I resorted to a landing 

 net which I had handy. Examination 

 proved that the bird was not serious- 

 ly wounded, so I set him out on a 

 branch of an old apple tree in the 

 back yard. At flrst it seemed dazed 

 by its freedom, then it hopped up a 

 little higher and began to peep a little, 

 and then louder and more often. I 

 concealed myself to watch results. In 

 about a half hour I noticed another 

 sparrow in the tree. This was a fe- 

 male White-throat. She at first kept 

 at a distance but as he continued his 

 calling she went up to him and coaxed 

 him to hop higher where it was safer, 

 and finally to leave the tree alto- 

 gether. Although fast recovering, it 

 was several days before he had com- 

 pletely regained his strength. This 

 female remained with him all the 

 while. Two days afterwards I came 

 upon this wounded bird and his nurse, 

 as I called the female. I made be- 

 lieve to try to catch him and imme- 

 diately the female threw herself on 

 the ground and shammed being 

 wounded so badly that she could hard- 

 ly keep from under my feet. I allow- 

 ed her to lead me thus the whole 

 length of the yard, whereupon she 

 took wing and went directly back to 

 the wounded bird. I repeated this 

 twice with the same result. This bit 

 of kind-heartedness on the part of a 

 strange bird set me to thinking. I 

 wondered if it often happened in wild 

 life. It could not have been possible 

 that the female was his mate, for I 

 had taken him fully seven miles away. 

 Yours truly, 



A. C. READ. 



