54 



THE OOLOGIST. 



The Cowbird. 



' EMi-yhody is too well aquainled 

 witli tliis nieaiu'st of l)ird kiiul to need 

 an.y (lesc-ription of it or, its eggs and 

 so u will not l)e necessary to describe 

 it. What collector has not seen its 

 eggs in other birds' nests? In fact it is 

 liard to tind a nest without from one to 

 four eggs of tliis Ijird in it. I have seen 

 uests of the Chewink with four Coav- 

 bird's and one of their own eggs in, I 

 also have a nest of the Indigo Hunting 

 in my collection that has a bottom 

 Ijuilt over a C'owbird's and one of its 

 own eggs, the Indigo laid two more 

 eggs, which were thrown out (probably 

 by the Cowbird) and two of the Cow- 

 bird's eggs laid in the nest. I always 

 hrow out all the Cowbird eggs that It 

 find in nests, while collecting and ad- 

 vise everybody else to do the same. 

 The questioji is who ever saw a Cow- 

 bird sitting on a nest? If anybody 

 ever did I would like to hear from them 

 through the OoLOGiST. 



R. C. Alexander, 

 Wayne Co, Mich. 



Ruby-crowned Kinglet. 



This delicate bit of bird life seeming 

 to know that he is a little more choice 

 than the Golden-crowned, is more 

 chary of his company than the s<jberer 

 and smaller relative. When, however, 

 he deigns to grace tlie twigs of your 

 orchard with his presence it is a visit 

 %vorth i-emembering, especially if perch- 

 ing on the topmost spray, he gives ut- 

 terance to his pleasing warble. This 

 sounds so loud and sweet that one al- 

 most involuntarily' looks around for 

 some larger author than the diminutive 

 musician there above. He is very tame 

 and unsuspicious. He thinks no doubj^ 



that lu) one would hurt such a line fel- 

 low, and will admit of the closest scrut- 

 iny without alarm. He is a very busy- 

 little bird rarely quiet for an instant 

 and alwaj's searching for food; his 

 movements are spry and he is not 

 averse to anything in the insect line 

 that comes his way, beetles, ants, slugs, 

 borers, all disappear and ever and anon 

 he flashes from the limb to seize some 

 luckless liy. 



On the 20th of last July, my brother 

 and I were slowly sauntering along a 

 road on the island of JMackivKu-, headed 

 for "my collecting place." (Wh^ col- 

 lector has not a spot that he calls so, in 

 his own mind at least?) when my atten- 

 tion was attracted by a great commo- 

 tion ir, an evergreen tree near at hand. 

 You may be sure that I lost no time in 

 investigating its cause and, on running 

 to the the spot, I beheld two adult 

 Kinglets busily engaged in coaxing two 

 fully Hedged young ones from a nest; 

 three other youngsters were sitting on 

 a limb by the nest, mortally afraid, no 

 doubt, of a fall. I secured two of the 

 young and climbed the tree to l(Jok at 

 the nest; this was constructed on top of 

 the "fan" at the end of the branch. It 

 was a very bulky structure, a great 

 deal longer than broad, composed of 

 pine needles and moss, lined with grass 

 and down. It was so loosely construct- 

 ed that a few blows of the hatchet on 

 the limb were sufficient to send the nest 

 to irredeemable smash. The identity 

 of the parents was nearly perfect. I 

 did not wish to shoot them, so content- 

 ed myself with the very good view of- 

 fered when climbing the tree. 



Stewart E. White, 



Kent Co., Mich. 



The Cactus Wren. 



The Cactus Wren breeds abundantly 

 in Southern California. They usually 

 nest in colonies. The site selected be- 

 ing a rocky mesa over-grown with cacti 

 and chapari'al. The name Cai-tus 



