THE OOLOGIST 



73 



with her household effects, if disturbed, 

 I covered the eggs with my coat and 

 hustled home after my camera and took 

 them "in situ." Although I use the 

 most rapid plates yet I had to make the 

 exposure 8 seoiiad< on account of the 

 gatheritig gloom in the woods. The 

 eggs were nearly hatched, but never 

 did an ocilogist use more time, patience 

 and pancreatin, than did I, but with 

 all my care I c )uld only save one egg. 



June 21.— How queer it is— a solemn 

 fact though — that one is forever sur- 

 prising himself by finding just what he 

 is not looking for. Here I've found 

 quite accideatal'y the nests of two spe- 

 cies that I've searched for so many 

 times without success. I'his fact was 

 again illustrated on June 21 while pho- 

 tographing an Ovenbird on nest. I 

 was out in the woods at 5 a. ni., and 

 when 1 arrived at the nest the Oven- 

 bird was out to breakfast, so I took 

 photo of nest and eggs 'in situ." I had 

 just finished when she came walking 

 homeward with dainty, mincing steps, 

 turning a«ide here and there for little 

 bunches of grass or a dead limb. With 

 camera obout six feet away she camo 

 peeking around the nest, her sparkling, 

 beady eyes seeming to express anxiety, 

 which did not pass away even when I 

 requested her to "look pleasant." 



While folding my camera I heard the 

 "hum" of a Hummingbird, overhead in 

 the oaks and I began to realize that a 

 nest was near, for judging by the 

 "hum" or "buzz" it sounded like a 

 Hummingbird from the nest a foot or 

 so, and darting back. A glance up- 

 ward revealed the tiny bird humming 

 around her home, on the crotch of a 

 dead limb, about 5 feet from the body 

 of a slender oak, and 30 feet above the 

 ground. She seemed to be nervous be- 

 cause of my presence and kept turning 

 her head sidewise, and peering at me 

 over the rim of her little gem of lichens, 

 spider's web and cottony stuff. There 



were two slightly incubated eggs and 

 they now are in my collection. 



There is another solemn fact that I 

 always think of as a sort of "hoodoo"^ 

 and that is to have some misfortune be- 

 fall a new find. Either some "var- 

 mint" will destroy the nest before the 

 set is complete, or else some self-in- 

 flicted acc'dent will happen. 



I well remember the first set of Chest- 

 nut-sided Warbler that I found. I had 

 succeeded in safely packing 3 of the 

 eggs and had the fourth egg between 

 my "first thumb and second finger' 

 when a mosquito lit on my thumb and 

 aroused my feelings — even more than 

 the offended Warblers— which caused 

 me to raise my hand, let it fall down 

 upon the mosquito, smashing him into 

 "smithereens" and incidentally the egg. 

 C. F. Stone, 

 Branchport, N. Y. 



Iowa Notes. 



"Oh! what so rare as a day in June?" 

 Sometimes we ornithologists think that 

 the early spring when the birds begin 

 to arrive from the sunny south, is just 

 as pleasant a time of the yea^, for after 

 the dreary months of our severe win- 

 ters, we are glad to greet our feathered 

 friends once more. 



On the 13th of March I heard the first 

 Bluebird of the season. While on my 

 way to work in the morning I passed a 

 small creek bordered on either side by 

 willows, and from some where there 

 came the unmistakable notes of our 

 first spring arrival. A cold northwest 

 wind was blowing at the time and snow 

 and rain fell incessantly. The ther- 

 mometer registered 36 degrees above 

 zero all day. 



About the middle of the forenoon on 

 the same day I saw a small flock of 

 Red-winged Blackbirds flying high in 

 air toward the south. Evidently their 

 northward journey was begun a little 



