76 



THE OOLOGIST. 



American Goldfinch— The nest was 

 placed in the fork of a small swamp 

 maple in a swale and surrounded by 

 hundreds of other maple saplings of 

 similar appearance. The nest and 

 eggs were taken and just two weeks 

 later another nest and eggs were tak- 

 en from the same crotch and two 

 weeks later I was surprised to find a 

 third nest with eggs, which were not 

 disturbed and the bird reared a brood. 



I also recollect two instances of the 

 nest of one species placed on the site 

 of another. 



Wood Pewee — The nest of a Ceru- 

 lean Warbler was blown down by the 

 wind, leaving only a few dangling- 

 strips of weed fibers; this attracted 

 the attention of a Pewee, and she im- 

 mediately built her nest there. 



Cedar Wax-wing — A nest of the 

 Gold-finch was removed with the ex- 

 ception of a small portion of the 

 foundation. The Waxwing must have 

 taken immediate possession, for two 

 weeks later her nest contained four 

 eggs. 



Many of the Oologist's readers 

 must have met with similar exper- 

 iences. Let us hear from them. 

 J. CLAIRE WOOD, 



Detroit, Mich. 

 » ♦■ « 



Solitary Tattler. 



The item regarding the breeding of 

 the Solitary Tattler in Pennsylvania 

 in your March issue was read, not 

 with surprise, but with amusement, 

 for so many of these notes on entire- 

 ly insufficient ground have appeared 

 during the last thirty years or so of 

 published ornithological observations 

 that I have come to smile rather than 

 swear at the marvelous items. In 

 my time I have learned ? ? ? of Red- 

 throated Diver's eggs from Connecti- 

 cut, (the wooden nutmeg state), Gol- 

 den-crested Kinglet's nests from Ken- 

 tucky, plenty of nesting Parakeets 

 from Iowa, Gray Sea Eagle's eggs 



from Minnesota and nesting Solitary 

 Tattlers from Pennsylvania, Illinois, 

 Ohio, New York, and my own state, 

 Michigan. But, upon looking up the 

 matter in all cases there was "no 

 cause of action" and the observa- 

 tions? ? ? went begging and the 

 world moved on just as if Joshua had 

 not told the sun to stand still. 



It still remains a fact that the Sol- 

 itary Tattler is in the habit of going 

 away north to nest and that very 

 few have been found nesting even 

 north of the 50th parallel. This is 

 not written with a view to an idle ar- 

 gument but with the sole aim of call- 

 ing attention to the necessity of ac- 

 urate observation. 



MORRIS GIBBS, M. D, 

 Kalamazoo, Mich. 



In Explanation. 



Lewistdh, Mont. 

 Dear Mr. Short: — 



Some time ago I wrote Mr. Lattin 

 about some old notes which I thought 

 about furnishing him for publication. 

 The first installment appeared in 

 1892, together with my letter of ex- 

 planation. By reference to that let- 

 ter, you will understand that the 

 notes at first are my earliest attempts 

 to break into ornithology; yet in 

 those boyish efforts there are some 

 good points, which may be profitable 

 to future Illinois workers. Sometimes 

 the boy sees more than the man, who 

 has become so familiar with these 

 common things that he overlooks 

 what may be of value to others. The 

 boy occupies a different point of view 

 from that of the man. As the record 

 grows, from year to year, the boy 

 gradually sees with older eyes and 

 gains by experience. If you care to 

 use this record, beginning with its 

 crudities, and continuing until it be- 

 comes something of value, I shall be 

 glad to furnish it from time to time. 

 It is a faithful reproduction of my 

 ornithological experience. 



Cordially yours, 



P. M. SILLOWAY. 



