166 



THE OOLOGIST. 



G. R. r., Washington, Ga.— ("annot 

 voui- red, white and l)hiek liird called 

 '"Shirt-tail," he the Red-headed Wood- 

 ))eekerv 



F. B., Chadrou, Neb.— Your female 

 l)ird with yellow under ])arts and 

 brown back, hanging its nest from the 

 small twigs of trees in groves, the eggs 

 being faint bluish, dotted and lined 

 with" dark-brown or l^lack is doubtless 

 the Orchard Oriole. 



E. L. Y., Thornton's Ferry, N. H.— 

 The description of your bird, nests and 

 eggs corresponds well, we think, with 

 the Meadowlark, nest and eggs. 



Y. K. K., Scottsbui'gh, Ind.— 1. The 

 fgg of the Belted Kingfisher is pure 

 white, nearly spherical, 1.36 x 1.05. 

 The egg of tlie Cedar Waxwing is light 

 slate-coh)r, with blotches and spots of 

 dark-brown and puri)le, almost lilack. 

 Measurement .84 x .61. The egg of 

 the Bol)olink is dull or grayish-Avhite, 

 tinged with light drab, olive or reddish- 

 brown, intermingled with lavender, 

 .83 X .61 . 



2. Although there may bo no real 

 depreciation in value of an egg l)ecause 

 it has unnatural stains, yet an egg 

 free from stains always seems to l)_e 

 woi-th more, in that it is a better speci- 

 men. 



F. C. H., Whitby, Out.— Tlie Brown 

 Creeper, A. O. U. No. 720 is the Verthia 

 (imericnna you refer to. 



B. R., Toulon, Ills.— 1. Cannot tell 

 from the description given. 



2. We can furnish John Burronghs' 

 works at $1.50 per volume. 



G. M. W., Gibbon, Neb.— The queries 

 of "Our Question-Box" are answered 

 by the Editors. 



T. W. G., Whitman, Mass.— Sets of 

 eggs of a given species should be num- 

 bered consecutively i)eginning the sea- 

 son with the number you left off the 

 previous season. No two sets in any 

 i'ollection should bear the same num- 

 ))er. 



In regard to the 

 bird called "Rink," 



'idack ; 

 queried 



md red" 

 aljout in 



the last 0()L()(iisT, G. M. W., Gibbon, 

 Neb., thinks it is the Chewink or Tow- 

 hee. We think this conjectiu'e is cor- 

 rect. The "red" might l)e accounted 

 for as chestnut, perliaps. 



Book Review. 

 Bird Ways. — Olive k Thokne Millek. 



Ill River.side Library for Young People. 

 Ifinio. i}!1.25. Boston: Houghton. Mifflin & 

 Co., 1889. 



Tills work, written in a ])f)pnlar style, 

 is described by its title, for the uiany 

 winning ways of tlie birds treated are 

 depit'ted very pleasingly by the words 

 of tlie author. He relates many inter 

 estiiig incidents and experiences with 

 the birds and tells his readers many 

 tilings which must be new to them. He 

 tells so many little things, in regard to 

 some of the birds, that the ordinary 

 observer would never notice^so manj' 

 of their cute and quaint doings. 



The author makes the assurance, in 

 the introduction, that the things re- 

 corded in his book are the results of his 

 own personal observation. 



Chapter I is entitled "The Bird of the 

 Morning" and is a faithful pentrayal of 

 the goings and doings of our common 

 American Robin. Speaking of a Robin's 

 nest he preserved, the author says: 



"This snug cottage of clay has been 

 the scene of some of the sweetest exper- 

 iences of all lives, great as Well as 

 small. For the lia])piness it has held, I 

 will jireserve it, and thus uioralizing, 1 

 phiced it on a bracket in memory of a 

 delightful study (.f the Bird of tlu' 

 Morning." 



Some of the other chapters are: "Tin- 

 Bird of Solitude" and "A (Jeiitle Spirit," 

 l)oth referring to the Wood Thrush; 

 "The Bird of Society," referring to the 

 Redwing Blackbirtl; "Upon the Tree- 

 Tojj," referring to the Baltimore Oriole, 

 and "A Ruffian in Feathers," which, of 

 course, means the House Sparrow. 

 The five closing chapters are devoted 

 to the various teniiK'ranieiits; iiupul.ses, 

 ways and doings of the House Sparrow. 



As a whole, tiiere is iiUK h in this 

 little work for the live ornithologist and 

 worlds of entertainment for the popular 

 inind. 



W^^AW copy intended for Sept. 

 OoLOGisT must be in by August 20 

 sharp. 



