68 



THE OOLOGIST. 



It is late in July, 1877, and I am 

 among the New Hampshire hills, about 

 25 miles north of Mt. Washington; there 

 are still some nests to be found, for 

 along the river banks the Cedarbirds 

 are nesting in little colonies amot g the 

 alders and the Goldfincthes are at home 

 in the small growth of the pastures and 

 roadsides. A certain hill-side pasture 

 is of interest, for two or three pairs of 

 Winter Wrens live there, and to find 

 their abode is my ambition, but in vain; 

 for when by their excited movements in 

 some pile of stumps and logs I am led to 

 believe that their nest is "just around 

 the corner" and commence to explore, 

 they flit to the next pile and go through 

 the same performance, and at last we 

 leave in despair. A few days after, I 

 received word from my friend that he 

 had found the wished-for nest with five 

 eggs, which were left for me to take 

 myself. The next day Ave went to the 

 place, but befoi-e we 'got there the 

 Wrens met us, protesting most forcibly 

 against our intrusion. 



It is related that a young lady from 

 Vassar, pfter witnessing the etforts of a 

 steam fire engine to di"Own out a fire, 

 turned to her escort and remai'ked, 

 "who would have thought that so dim- 

 inutive an apparatus could have contain- 

 ed so much water'?" And any one who 

 has met an excited W^ren must have 

 wondered that so diminutive a bird 

 could contain so much indignation. 



However, we ventured to the nest 

 and peeped in, and to our disgust saw a 

 most promising family of five young 

 Wrens. But it was something to l)e 

 able to say we had seen a Winter Wren's 

 nest. The location was on the edge of 

 a meadow, Avhere it began to relapse in- 

 to its original state of s))ruce swamp, 

 and the nest was built in a hole in an 

 old stum]), entered from the top, and 

 so entirely open to the sky. No at- 

 tempt was made to cover the nest, as 

 the opening was just large enough for 

 the birds to i^ass in. 



One evening my uncle asked, "do 

 you know any bird that nests in the 

 winter?" and then explained by saying 

 that early in the preceding March a 

 party of wood-choppers from the vil- 

 lage were at work in a birch forest on 

 a rauge of hills just Avest of the Con- 

 necticut river, Avhen to their sui'prise 

 they foimd in one of the trees a nest 

 containing eggs, and on examination 

 they found several others in the Aicini- 

 ty . They brought the eggs to the A'illage 

 and exhibited them, but no one took suffi- 

 cient interest iu them to pi-eseiwe them. 

 At last I found a boy Avho had blown one 

 and kept it, so I made a bargain Avith 

 him and he Avent home for it, only to 

 return Avith the pleasing information 

 that his mother had broken it and 

 throAvn it aAvay, and so I lost the Cross- 

 bill's egg. He described it as colored 

 something like a "Teeter's," (Spotted 

 Sandpiper's) egg. I have never seen it 

 mentioned before that this bird was 

 social in its lireeding habits. 



The scene noAv changes to a Minneso- 

 ta SAvamj), some 12 miles Avest of Min- 

 neapolis, Avhere in making a survey a 

 Hawk's nest was found in a maple tree, 

 about tAventy feet from the ground. 

 The bird stai'tled from the nest flew but 

 fifty or sixty feet, and lighting on a 

 dead limb, faced us with quiet curiosity, 

 displaying the beautifully and uniquely 

 marked breast of the GoshaAvk; but the 

 tree Avas large and slippery and all our 

 eiforts to reach the nest failed, and that 

 set of eggs neA'er reached my cabinet. 

 The next spring I Aisited the tree Avith 

 climbers, hoping the bird to have re- 

 turned, but Avas disappointed. 



But I Avillnot pursue this subject of 

 "It might have been," much further, 

 but to shoAV that such ill luck still ]jur- 

 sues me, Avill say that a friend in "the 

 pineries" shot for me about a month 

 ago, a large specimen of the Great Gray 

 Owl, but Avhen he came out his pack 

 was so large that he had to lesA'e it for 

 the wolves. This specimen Avas shot in 



