194 



THE OOLOGIST. 



resident, a few remaining, as it seems 

 to entertain the hosts of Tree Sparrows 

 that come trooping along in October, 

 and remain until late in April. 



January 12, '96, was a beautiful win- 

 ter's day, so I sauntered along the 

 swamp to enjoy the "tinkling bells" 

 from thousands of Tree Sparrows, ac- 

 companied by the more alto-like "gipp" 

 of Song Sparrows. While passing 

 through a growth of alders, a shower of 

 about three hundred Redpolls descend- 

 ed into the tree-tops and for a few min- 

 utes I enjoyed their subdued twitterings, 

 when they were off as suddenly as they 

 came. 



On January 25th I was skirmishing 

 about in the swamp, when I saw a bird 

 dive into the cattails in such a Black- 

 bird-like fashion that I shot it and it 

 proved to be a female Redwing, a rare 

 bird to see in this latitude in mid-win- 

 ter. 



November 23, "96, was a warm spring- 

 like day. I noted two male Redwing 

 Blackbirds, one Bronzed Grackle.a Kill- 

 deer, several American Coots and Horn- 

 ed Grebes, also two Pectoral Sandpipers 

 flying over the edge of the marsh. 



November 26th I visited a pine-clad 

 ravine and found that the American 

 Crossbills had arrived and with them 

 were several Pine Siskins. I noticed 

 that the Crossbills had a habit of alight- 

 ing in the bare branches of a big oak 

 tree in a clearing, after a flight up and 

 down the woods. 



On December 20th I saw half a dozen 

 Red-breasted Nuthatches in company 

 with a band of Chickadees. 



On January 1, '97, I startled a band of 

 Slate colored Juncos out of a bushy 

 ravine. 



March 7th, I had a good chance to 

 observe a flock of about seventy-five 

 Pine Siskins. They were in some con- 

 iferous trees bordering a ravine, but 

 soon they flitted into an oak near me, 

 where they sat in a humped-up attitude, 

 uttering a peculiar trill. Soon they be- 



gan to drop into the lower branches 

 and finally to the ground, where their 

 actions af cer food were exactly like the 

 Chickadee's. I sat perfectly quiet on a 

 log, while they flitted all about me, not 

 over six feet away, exhibiting no fear 

 whatever, even when I coughed several 

 times. 



The first bird that I saw for 1898 was 

 a male Red-wing Blackbird on January 

 2d. The next was a Northern Shrike 

 sitting on the top most branch of a 

 small tree. Hoping to get him I sneak- 

 ed along, sheltered by a stump fence, 

 but before I got close enough to shoot, 

 he had dived close to the ground and, 

 skimming over the snow-covered field, 

 ascended to the top of a high elm tree. 

 On January 25th, I was rather sur- 

 prised to hear the rasping scraping note 

 of a Bronzed Grackle. During the rest 

 of the winter he remained a resident of 

 our town orchards. Nearly every day 

 I heard him sputtering and talking to 

 himself and the English Sparrows. 



On February 22d, I went forth in 

 quest of Great Horned Owls' nests I 

 tramped to a swamp four miles from 

 home. The snow was six inches deep, 

 but on the hills it was drifted to five or 

 six feet. I visited a hollow stump, 

 where the owls nested last year undi- 

 sturbed, but they were not there. Hear- 

 ing a gang of noisy crows in a distant 

 part of the swampy woods, I concluded 

 they were entertaining my owl, and as 

 I remembered seeing a Red-tailed Hawk 

 building her nest there in a big elm tree 

 in '96, I started in a round about way 

 to visit it. I saw what appeared to be 

 a stick protruding above the nest, but 

 as I stood about one hundred feet away, 

 wandering and hoping, Mrs. Owl arose 

 with owlish dignity, stepped to the edge 

 of the nest and away she went into the 

 depths of the swampy forest and away 

 I went for the nest. A quick climb 

 brought me to a seat on the limb on 

 which the snow-burdened nest rested. 

 Hidden in the downy lining of feath- 



