THH OOLOOIST 



103 



frail structure of grass, lined with fin- 

 er grass placed on the ground or in 

 small trees, bushes, etc. I collect 

 about eight or ten sets a season, my 

 earliest date being April 6th. 



4. Grasshopper Sparrow. These 

 birds are plentiful but the nests are 

 hard to find. Arrive here in April and 

 are nesting by the middle of May. Nest 

 is of grass, arched over top so eggs are 

 concealed, laying from four to six 

 white, brown specked eggs. The only 

 way to find them is to use a rope. Two 

 parties take hold of the rope and drag 

 it through the field where they are 

 nesting. When one files up look about 

 five feet behind her and you will find 

 the nest. Although these birds are 

 plentiful, I rarely find over two or 

 three sets a season. 



5. Dickcissel. Arrive in April and 

 are found in fields nesting the last 

 of May, laying from four to five eggs 

 of light blue. The nest built on the 

 ground in bushes or weeds. These 

 birds are plentiful but the nest is hard 

 to find. I collect about a dozen sets a 

 season, the earliest date being May 

 2d. 



Answers Wanted. 



I have been reading in John Muir's 

 Story of My Boyhood and Youth, a 

 most interesting incident, one which 

 despite the veracity of the lover au- 

 thor, I find it hard to credit. 



He speaks of hunting one evening 

 about sunset in one of his father's 

 fields in Wisconsin, that was much in- 

 fested by gophers. He noticed a 

 shrike dart down from a tree top and 

 alight on the dirt theshold of a gopher 

 hole. After a little hesitation, the bird, 

 he says, dove into the hole, remaining 

 out of sight while John ran up close to 

 the place and listened. After much 

 squealing and sounds of terror, out 

 dashed a gopher, then another, finally 

 six in all, scattering to all points of 

 the compass as if in mortal fright, 



Then out pops the fierce butcher-bird 

 and in rapid succession lighted upon 

 the backs of each of the fleeing ani- 

 mals and killed each by a shart peck 

 at the base of the skull. After this, he 

 dragged one gopher to a neighboring 

 fence rail and proceeded to devour it. 

 Is this likely? Can any of our Oologist 

 readers in Wisconsin or elsewhere 

 vouch for a similar feat? Maybe on 

 strength of this there ought to be add- 

 ed another geographical race to the 

 finely divided Shrike family. Might 

 we call it Lanius Phagogopherus or 

 Gopher Shrike? 



R. T. Fuller. 



The Yellow Warbler. 



Spring arrivals of the Yellow Warb- 

 ler at Hartford, Conn. 



I do not wish to impress the readers 

 of THE OOLOGIST that I have seen 

 the first Yellow Warbler that arrives 

 in the state of Connecticut. These 

 dates are the days that I have first 

 seen this Warbler in the vicinity of 

 Hartford, for the last 22 years: 



May 5, 1894. 



May 5, 1895 



May 3, 1896. 



Maly 9, 1897. 



May 3, 1898. ( 



May 3, 1899. 



May 6, 1900. 



May 5, 1901. 



May 4, 1902. 



May 3, 1903. 



May 1, 1904. 



May 1, 1905. 



May 4, 1906. 



May 12, 1907. 



April 28, 1908. 



May 5, 1909. 



May 4, 1910. 



May 6, 1911. 



May 2, 1912. 



April 27, 1913. 



May 4, 1914. 



April 28, 1915. 



Clifford M. Case, 



