THE OOLOGIST 



1S7 



House Wren, South Sterling, Pa., 

 June 1, 6 half incubated eggs. 



Long-billed Marsh Wren, Brides- 

 Durg, Pa., June 13, 6 half incubated 

 eggs. 



White-breasted Nuthatch, State Col- 

 lege, Pa., April 29, 7 fresh eggs. 



Black-caped Chickadee, Charter 

 Oak, Pa., May 22, new nest. 



Wood Thrush, Charter Oak, Pa., 

 May 24, 4 fresh eggs. 



Robin, State College, Pa., May 10, 

 4 fresh eggs. 



Bluebird, State College, Pa., April 

 28, 3 fresh eggs. 



In addition to these I also found 

 nests of Sparrow Hawk, Red-headed 

 Woodpecker and Purple Martin and 

 post-nuptial nests of Goldfinches. 



Richard F. Miller. 



Nin«ty-five species is a truly won- 

 derful record for one season and 

 shows high class field ability. — Editor. 



The Song of the Mockingbird 



I trust the following short notes will 

 be of some interest to readers of this 

 magazine, at least to those who are 

 not familiar with the song of the 

 Mockingbird. 



As there was no celebration this 4th 

 of July, very near my JioD'.e town, 1 

 decided to spend the day along the 

 Mississippi River, so doni.ing my hik- 

 ing clothes, and loadinf, my camera 

 with plates 1 started out with my 

 camera and binoculars, to shoot game. 



When about one mile from the river, 

 I struck a long stretch of barren 

 wastes of sand bottom, and in spite 

 of a three speed bicycle, and my deter- 

 mination, I was forced to push my 

 cycle through the most of it, thus mak- 

 ing slow time. 



A short distance ahead of me 1 

 heard the fan^iliar notes of the nut- 

 hatch, coming from a nearby thicket. 

 My curiosity was instantly aroused, 

 for I thought it unusual for a nuthatch 



to be so far from the deep woods. 

 Then issuing from the same thicket, 

 was the clear, savage "kee lee, kee 

 lee" of the sparrow hawk. Something 

 must be wrong! My curiosity was 

 doubly roused now, and upon investi- 

 gation an innocent looking mocking- 

 bird flew out. 



He now proceeded to hold me spell- 

 bound for an hour by his varied songs. 

 In exceptionally clear tones, the cardi- 

 nal song was given, followed by the 

 harsh notes of the shrike, both notes 

 characteristic of the migrant shrike 

 being given. Then a soft, mellow 

 whistle of the bob-white was heard, 

 followed shortly by the familiar "yank, 

 yank" of the nuthatch. Both notes of 

 the nuthatch were given, always fol- 

 lowing each other. 



This bird evidently had frequented 

 some farmyard while wintering down 

 south, for it gave the exact, noisy 

 notes of the guinea fowl, invariably 

 followed by the call of a chicken, when 

 lost from the mother hen. This char- 

 acteristic of its uttering the various 

 notes of common use by any bird, in 

 succession was very noticeable in the 

 case of the blue jays' song. First it 

 gave the "jay, jay" call, then the "de 

 lillet, de lillet," followed by the scream 

 of the red tailed hawk, so often used 

 by the jay. 



In almost every case the mocking 

 bird's rendering of the different songs, 

 was clearer, and more distinct than 

 when uttered by the bird of which the 

 notes are characteristic. My notes 

 show the following songs, as given in 

 five minutes: both notes of the cat- 

 bird, the twitter of the wren, the wild 

 notes of the kingbird, the rolling «on& 

 of the martin, and the call of the red- 

 headed woodpecker. This was fol- 

 lowed by the beautiful warble of the 

 warbling vireo, only to be spoiled by 

 the "wit whit, wit whit" of the crested 

 flycatcher, given in strong language. 



