THE MUSEUM. 



39- 



heard in every direction, but as it was 

 not their nesting time for a moiitli yet, 

 we did not care to wade into this al- 

 most impenetrable cane-brake of Hag 

 and mud to seek for them. 



Reversing our course we turned our 

 faces back towards Thompson and 

 searched on the other side of the 

 slough. Quite a number of male red- 

 wings followed us for some distance 

 scolding severely for our intrusion in 

 their haunts. In a dense thicket of 

 yellow birch a nest of the wood thrush 

 was found containing three fresh eggs. 

 Several more nests of the prothonotary 

 ■were found and down near the lake a 

 nest of the house wren containing sev 

 en finely marked eggs. At this end 

 the lake is only about a quarter of a 

 mile wide, but further down it widens 

 to a full mile and it is five in length. 

 *It is a beautiful sheet of water and an 

 ideal place for the collecting naturalist 

 and in the proper season for the 

 sportsman. During the migration of 

 fall and spring thousands of pehcans, 

 geese, ducks, and many other varities 

 of water fowl, frequent these waters. 

 Ex-President Harrison has spent one 

 or two seasons here during the shoot- 

 ing season. The lake is full of game 

 fish and in its waters are to be found 

 some of the finest fresh water shells in 

 the country. In the hundreds of acres 

 of flag the coots, gallinules, rails, 

 grebes and least bitterns, find suitable 

 nesting places. The woodcock is a 

 nester here, and I have taken the eggs 

 of the hairy, downy, red-bellied, yel- 

 low-bellied and red-headed woodpeck- 

 ers, while the great pileated may be 

 seen in the bigger timber at almost 

 any season of the year. 



While the whip-poor-will usually 

 prefers the uplands, I have several 

 times found its eggs in this low coun- 

 try, and the cuckoos and night hawks 

 are very common, as are several va- 

 rieties of the vireos, warblers and the 

 Baltimore oriole. A little farther back 

 in the big timber the great horned and 

 barred owls and the red'tailed and 

 Cooper's hawk are common nesters. 



A busy doctor with almost every hour 

 of his time demanded by the sick gets 

 but little time to look after all these 

 oological treasures. 



W'^ll, by and by we got back to our 

 buggies and after a lunch of pie, cake 

 and fruit, we sized up our finds for the 

 afternoon. About twenty sets of the 

 warblers, eight of the grackles, six of 

 the red-wings, one of the wren and 

 one set of four yellow-breasted cuck- 

 oos. The warblers were all sets of five 

 and six, and upon the whole we were 

 very well pleased with our four hour's 

 work. The nests were invariably 

 made of green moss taken from the 

 roots of the willow trees, and in a few 

 cases a little fine grass was used as a 

 lining. The female was nearly always 

 flushed from the ca\ity containing the 

 nest and a minute afterwards would be 

 joined by the malt, who would be 

 very loud and boisterous in his pro- 

 tests at our proceedings. In former 

 excursions after these eggs I have 

 nearly always had to seek for them in 

 a boat, but this season on account of 

 the low stage of the lake, it was dry 

 land work. 



The drive home was most charming. 

 The forest gave one the idea of an en- 

 chanted land. An almost tangible 

 atmosphere seemed to envelop the 

 scene and to whisper a worldless lan- 

 guage. The pale evening sky, through 

 and beyond the massive tree trunks, 

 as we left the swamp, resembled the 

 broad expanse of a placid sea. Be- 

 yond the forest the open country sud- 

 denly bathed itself in sunlight, the pale 

 sky breathed for a moment a rosy 

 sweetness, then o\er all fell the vague 

 shadows of the day's decline: 



Dr. W. S. Stkodil, Lewiston, 111. 



Ohio State Academy of Science. 



We are indebted to Mr. I'. E. Mas- 

 terman of Ohio, for some notes on the 

 meeting of the Ohio Academy of 

 Science held at Columbus, Ohio, on 

 the 2Kth and 29th of last month. The 

 sessions were held at Orton hall on, the 

 Ohio State University grounds. On 



