THE OOLOGIST. 



287 



masonry of the uest, the old bh'd al- 

 lows three or four days to elapse, and 

 then lines it. Layinpf is then began 

 and one egg is laid every clay until the 

 set is complete. Generally a few days 

 then elapse before incubation begins. 

 So far as I have been able to delcr- 

 mine, the period of incubation is four- 

 teen days, but from the difficulty of as- 

 certaining just when it begins, I do not 

 make this as a positive assertion. 'J'he 

 old birds are very affectionate townids 

 each other and mate for life and wlien 

 not searching for food the male is -it- 

 ting upon the edge of the nest. He 

 never attempts to feed the young l)ii<ls, 

 though he may bring food to tlic fe- 

 male. The food of this bird consists 

 entirely of insects which it in\ aria My ' 

 catches while upon the wing. 



Early in the spring this bird has a 

 vei-y pleasant note, from the sound of 

 which several of its names are derived. 

 As nearly as I can write it, or as nearly 

 as letters can reproduce it, the oote is 

 pec-wee, sounded very plaintively, but 

 in a tone that can be heard a long way 

 off. When its nest is disturbed it hops 

 around uneasily and somewhat plain- 

 tively says peet-peet. I believe these 

 are its only notes. 



C. O. OimsBEE, 

 Montpelier, Vt. 



me that old Black. Uail. -It will help 

 me to climb. 



"You Loon,'" said Will, "you can 

 Knot climb that tree." "I can," says 

 Bob, "Ani ain't no Booby like you." 

 Poor Will, his feelings wei'c hurt, his 

 eyelids began to Flicker and Snowjlahc 

 peax'ly moisture trickled down his 

 cheeks. 



Bob at last managed to climb the ti'ee 

 Puffin fvom exhaustion. He exclaimed, 

 "This heat would Turnslo7ie to water!" 

 Very carefully he creeps along the 

 limb for the Least Tern and he will 

 fall. After much trouble and exertion 

 he reaches the uest— empty. Let us 

 draw a curtain over this unhappy scene. 

 Clinton M. Gary, 

 New York City. 



Conglomeration. 



HASH. 



There is a boy in our town, his name 

 is Bob While. He is always Robin birds 

 nests for he is an egg collector One 

 lime while out collecting with his chum 

 Will he spied a nest. ''Cedar Wax- 

 wing?' he exclaimed. "I Sora fly. 

 There must be eggs in that nest. It is 

 a difficult tree to climl^ and Ilvff on 

 one's shins; the nest is out on the end 

 of that limb. Willct hold me do you 

 thinkv I guess you had bettor hand 



Button's Vireo. 



This is one of the most interesting 

 birds which I had the pleasure of meet- 

 ing during my tirst season in Oregon. 

 My first set was collected May 31, 1892, 

 from a nest found by my father. The 

 nest was a light structure, hanging from 

 a fir limb, five feet from the ground 

 and ten feet from the tree, composed of 

 grass and moss, lined with fine rootlets, 

 and measuring two inches in diameter, 

 by one and one-half deep, inside, and 

 three and one-half by two a::d one-half 

 outside. It contained five little beau- 

 ties, pure white, speckled with two 

 shades of reddish brown, mostly at the 

 larger end. They measui'e 75x54, 76x 

 53, 77x54, 75x54, 76x54. 



On June 6th, father found another 

 nest belonging to the same birds and 

 parlly built of materials from the old 

 nest. It contained one egg. 



June 10th, we went up and examined, 

 finding that it still contained but one 

 egg. Apparently the bird on seeing 

 father remembered its former exper- 

 ience and thought best to leave; though 

 this would ai)pear to credit the bird 



