272 



THE OOLOGIST 



sesses fire arms. Few can resist a 

 shot at hawk or crow, and the village 

 or city boy will down any bird of size, 

 while the sportsman enjoys blackbird 

 and meadow lark shooting in the ab- 

 sence of more worthy game. It thus 

 becomes evident that meadow lark, 

 blackbird, jay, shrike and any bird 

 of much greater size should be select- 

 ed. Red-winged Blackbirds could be 

 easily obtained as they are found in 

 every piece of marsh land of any size, 

 but are the least desirable by reason 

 of migrating in large flocks, and re- 

 taining this social tendency at the 

 winter quarters, and the same may be 

 said of the crow, though to a lesser 

 extent, but fair results could be ex- 

 pected after their return in Spring. 

 My choice would be the meadow lark 

 and hawk, with preference to the 

 latter as the larger the bird the less 

 an artificial weight would hamper it. 



Note. 



A female Red-tailed Hawk was 

 brought to me for mounting today, of 

 which the stomach contents proved 

 very interesting. 



The stomach contained one com- 

 plete Grey Squirrel torn to pieces, 

 for swallowing; one Garter Snake, 21 

 inches long, and one Water Snake 15 

 inches long. The heads of both 

 snakes were missing, but otherwise 

 the bodies were not mutilated and the 

 measurements are of the pieces. Due 

 to the crowded condition of the stom- 

 ach, the Garter Snake was contained 

 in the mouth and gullet of the bird 

 and several folds of the snake could 

 be seen on opening the beak. This is 

 the first case of snakes in this bird's 

 food with me, and I wondered if it 

 was common. 



Raymond Spellum. 

 Viroqua, Wis. 



The Calliope Hummingbird. 

 By Charles S. Moody. 



The theory of protected mimicry 

 may be overworked as some natural- 

 ists insist, but that the Calliope Hum- 

 mingbird is advised of its value will 

 be equally patent to any person who 

 has put in any time hunting one of 

 their nests. Most birds resort to 

 some degree of protection, either by 

 position, manner of nest building, or 

 concealment, but none, so far as 1 

 have investigated, takes the pains to 

 blend the nest so perfectly with the 

 surroundings as this aerial sprite. 



The Calliope is a western bird, the 

 smallest and most unobtrusive of the 

 family. It is quite different from the 

 eastern and southern species which 

 nest about farm houses, even in rose 

 arbors in towns and villages. Calli- 

 ope is a forest lover, haunting the 

 deep confiers of the Pacific slope, 

 north into Alaska, south into north- 

 ern California. I have found them at 

 an altitude of 11,000 feet in the Bit- 

 ter Root mountains, again at sea level 

 in the Douglass fir belt along the Pa- 

 cific Ocean. 



The nest is invariably placed upon 

 a low horizontal branch of cedar, 

 spruce, or black pine, extending over 

 a mountain stream, and in plain 

 sight — if you can see it. 



There's the rub; no larger than an 

 English walnut, composed of cotton- 

 wood down, sitting flat on the branch, 

 the outside covered with fine bits of 

 gray bark lain on M'ith glue, it is 

 the most baffling thing in nest hunt- 

 ing. You may be positive that the 

 tree contains a nest, but you cannot 

 find it. 



An amusing incident occurred at 

 Mullan, Idaho, a few years ago. The 

 teacher of ornithology in one of the 

 state institutions visited our country 

 during the nesting season. His edu- 

 cation had been accomplished in the 



