THE OOLOGIST. 



43 



White-breasted Nuthatch, Sitta car- 

 olinensis. Another interesting little 

 farm-yard visitant, tiying in open doors 

 and windows and making themselves 

 much at home and all of the time utter- 

 ing their curious quauk. 



Red-breasted Nuthatch, Sitta canad- 

 eusis The above description of the 

 White-breasted species well describes 

 this species, although the Red-breasted 

 is not so abundant. 



Chickadee, Parus atricapillius. Last 

 but not least on my list comes the little 

 Titmouse, the bird of .so friendly dispo- 

 sition and gentle manners, who thinks 

 no one his enemy. They are very 

 abundant here and help to make the 

 long winter pass more swiftly by their 

 happy, joyful nature. In closing this 

 paper I cannot refrain from writing 

 what Wilson says of this species which 

 I take from Davies "Nests and Eggs," 

 fourth edition. It is as follows: 



They traverse the wood in regular 

 procession from tree to tree, tumbling, 

 chattering and hanging from the ex- 

 tremities of the branches, examining 

 about the roots, the leaves, buds and 

 crevices of the bark for insects and 

 their larva. They also frequently visit 

 the orchards, particularly in the fall, 

 the sides of the barn and the barn-yard 

 in the same pursuit, trees in such situa- 

 tions being generally much infested 

 with insects. Therefore we rank this 

 little bird among the farmer's friends, 

 and trust our citizens will always rec- 

 ognize him and as such." 



I consider the above description of 

 this little bird the best I have ever read 

 and would call particular attention to 

 the last few lines, and trust that all our 

 citizens throughout this broad land will 

 give more attention to the study and 

 protection of our feathered friends; 

 stop the wholesale destruction of our 

 native birds before it is too late; unite 

 in this great work, for unity means 

 strength. Guy L. Briggs, 



Livermore, Maine. 



A Red-headed Black-bird. 



I saw a Red-winged Blackbird last 

 spring with a red head as well as 

 shoulders. 



I was painting a fence near a swamp 

 and the bird was in sight at any time I 

 had a micd to look for him. My team 

 came to take me home and I called my 

 wife's attention to the bird. 



We are both familiar with this spec- 

 ies ard have it mounted at home. 



The bird was evidently mated be- 

 cause it was June and all of his actions 

 pointed to his being interested in a 

 family in the bnshes, near by. 



R. S. Torre Y, 

 Wen ham Depot, Mass. 



More Albinos. 



In the December iss'^e of the Oologist 

 I saw an article written by G. G. Welsh 

 giving an account of an Albino English 

 Sparrow. A day or two after I read 

 this article a friend told me he had seen 

 a Sparrow which was nearly all wLite 

 in a large flock of the same species. I 

 told him to try an(l get it for me, so the 

 next day he brought it, having shot; it 

 that morning. I found it to be a female 

 English Sparrow vvith both wings pure 

 white and a few white feathers on its 

 head and neck. The rest of the feath- 

 ers were of the same color as other 

 English Sparrows. I now have it in 

 in my collection mounted with its 

 wings half spread. 



I have three other Albinos in my col- 

 lections which were killed here. On 

 April 23, 1899, a friend of mine was 

 watching near a pond for some Ducks 

 when he saw a white bird flying alone, 

 coming toward the pond. He shot at 

 it and killed it, and as he had never 

 seen a bird like it he brought it to me. 

 I found it to be a pure white "Yellow- 

 legs ;" this is the only pure white albino 

 "Wader" I have heard of. (if there are 

 others I would like to hear of them.) 



