THE OOLOGIST. 



93 



TlR'y :iiv of a bluisli green or greenish 

 blue in eolcn-, spotted tliiekly of reddish 

 brown. Sizes range from .95 to 1.08 in 

 lengtli by 70 to 76 in l)readth. 



Glovek M. Allkn, 

 Middle-sex Co.,Ma.ss. 



Winter Birds in Spring. 



Mareli 28. On looking out of the 

 window I was very much surprised to 

 see the ground covered with snow, in 

 some places to the depth of two feet. 

 Only the day before I had seen the 

 earlj' spring birds. The weather was 

 very cold, but I could still hear the 

 song of Melospiza ynelodia. 



March 39. Snow again fell, and it 

 brought numbers of Red]jolls, Tree 

 Sparrows, and; much to my surprise, 

 a large tiock of .Snow Buntings and 

 Crossbills, into the city. The Snow 

 Buntings congregated in a vacant lot 

 where I procured three of them, and 

 the Crossbills stopped to feed on the 

 cones of some hemlocks across the 

 road. Of these I got five, all American 

 Cro.ssbills. Concluding that the main 

 tiock must be somewliere in the Aicinitj- 

 of the city, I took mj" gun and went in 

 search of them. After considerable 

 walking we found the tiock which, on 

 rising, seemed to h\\ the air like so 

 many huge suowtlakes. We procured 

 as many of these as were wanted and 

 among them a male, with clear white 

 head and breast, and in place of the 

 greyish-black and chestnut markings 

 on the back, it was jet black; and we 

 also secured two females of the usual 

 color, alive, they being slightly "wing- 

 tipped." We saw several more of 

 these White Buntings, whicli I believe 

 is their summer plumage. 



On our Avay home we saw a lai'ge 

 flock of Robins. Meadow Larks, Juncos, 

 Song and Tree Sparrows; also some 

 Jilackl)irds and Redpolls, near a hem- 

 lock wood, where they could fly for 

 shelter from the storm. It was i)rol)a- 



bly the recent snow .sforms which 

 drove these northern birds back, but 

 notwithstanding this, was it not very 

 late for them to be loitering hereV 

 Chas. C. Tkembly, 

 Oneida C1>., N. Y. 



Some "Pun"-gent Sentences. 



A "tough" bird — tlie jay. 

 A ('heating bird — the gull. 

 A Ijoasting bird — the crow. 

 A dishonest bird — the rol)in. 

 A rude birti — the mocking bird. 

 An untruthful bird — tiie lyre bird. 

 A low spirited bird — the blue bird. 

 A "cabinet" bird — the secretary bird. 



E. J BoTSFORD, 



Medina, N.Y. 



Great Gray Owls. 



On .January last there M'as shot in 

 Franklin Co. a Great C^ray or Cinereous 

 Owl; also one was taken in Chittenden 

 Co. the same week and the two s])eci- 

 mens are now in my collection. 



This owl is a verj- rare visitor in Ver- 

 mont. 



There were several Snowy Owls 

 captured here this winter. 



S. O. Bkush. 

 Chittenden Co., Vt. 



A Valuable Work. 



We have I'ec-eived from Mvssrs. W. 

 W. Crooks & Co., of Oilman, III., a 

 co])y of Jordan's "Manual of the Verte- 

 brates" of the Northern United States, 

 including the disti'ict north and east of 

 the Ozark Mountains, south of the Lau- 

 rentian Hills, north of the southern 

 boundary of \^irginia, and east of the 

 Missouri River — inclusive of marine 

 si^ecies. Fifth I^dition. 



The design of the work is to give to 

 students and collectors a ready means 

 of identifying the Vertebrate fauna of 

 the I'egion which it covers, and of 

 recognizing the characters on which 

 the families, genera, and species of 

 these animals are founded. 



The work is greatlj' condensed, 

 giving the reader "much in little." All 

 descriptions are verj' concise with as 

 few repetitions as po.ssible. 



The order of arrangement, is that 



