180 



THE OOLOGIST. 



my head to get off that chimp of trees I 

 as quick as possible and wash my hands j 

 and I did; in my jump foi* the brook I 

 found my tirst Marjiand Yellow-throat's 

 nest with eggs in it and I washed my 

 hands and did 'not get poisoned, or since 

 that time, and the eggs were new to my 

 collection at that date. 



In Maj', this j'ear, I found a Cooper's 

 Hawk's nest in a tree and did not pay 

 special attention to the tree until it was 

 time to climb up. 



Well, I went over into the swamp and 

 scared off the hawk and then! Well, I 

 looked at that tree and decided for a 

 good while whether to blow the nest up 

 (n- hii'e some body to climb it for me, 

 Init as it was only twenty feet up, I 

 mustered up grit and climbed up, ami 

 was rewarded with a set of five eggs. 



Then I climbed down, set the eggs 

 down and washed my hands, wrists and 

 face pretty thoroughly in a puddle of 

 water in the swamp, and then I picked 

 up my climbers, eggs and walked out, 

 when I had got out of sight, I heard the 

 female hawk say (over at the nest) that 

 she thought I was a hard case, a fellow 

 that will climb a poison shumach tree 

 and run the risks of getting poisoned 

 ought to die, she ended this with an an- 

 gry cry and came over and got some 

 chickens at one of our neighbor's. 



And I escaped being poisoned to 

 death after having climbed such a poi- 

 sonous tree, and touching my face 

 against the branches and the little 

 sprouts on the way up, and breaking 

 limbs that came in my way. 



Henslow's Sparrow. 

 This sparrow is a summer resident, al- 

 though have not heard much of in pa- 

 pers, still some may have a pair within 

 Ihe limits of their farm and not know it. 

 In May j'ou may hear a see-wick, with 

 first word con.'jiderably dwelt on, and 

 you can hear it all day, and far into the 

 night coming from some i)asture, with 

 swamps and diy uplands in streaks, 

 and perhaps if you listen long enough 



to tell the exact place, and walking ta 

 it a sparrow starts up and flying ner^ 

 vously drops again about a rod off and 

 you can scare it up two and more times, 

 without any other result unless you are. 

 very lucky and tind their eggs and nest. 

 The birds stay for the most the time on 

 the ground in a growth of spare or thick 

 short grass, and will not go off' a large 

 lot except when they migrate. 



Last year two pairs of these birds; 

 bred here, and they both raised twa 

 broods of 4 — 5, one or the number ac- 

 cording too the choice of Mrs. H. Spar-, 

 row. I was not successful enough to 

 obtain the eggs, but had the pleasure of; 

 seeing the nest, and the old birds teach-, 

 ing the young to fly. 



The nests in both cases were placed 

 in meadows of swamps and with dry- 

 places also, and had a thin hay crop on 

 them. 



In 1891 one of the old birds was seen 

 again, and it was feeding and uttering 

 the note see-tvick quite frequent!}', and 

 just now though I have failed to hear it 

 or see the bird, for a day or more, but I 

 hope to be able to get a set if possible 

 and get better acquainted, if it wiU 

 breed again this year at the same place 

 and grounds^ 



A. M. LiNSLEY, 



. Northford, Connecticut. 



Unusual Occurrences. 



I have three rare flnds which I hav» 

 taken this season. 



On May 10th, Song Sparrow Avith five 

 Cowbird's eggs and four of the owner; 

 the nest was just about full. 



May 25th, Ovenbird with seven Cow-, 

 bird's eggs and one of owner; one egg 

 was the only one laj'cd bj^ Ovenbird. 



May 17th, Chickadee 1-6 and Bluebird 

 1-3 in same cavity; the Chickadee's nest 

 was built on top of the other and yoiv 

 may imagine mj' surj^rise when I took 

 the nests out. 



Ernest Marceau, 

 Dubuque, lowa^ 



