THE OREGON NATURALIST. 3 
instument to measure in places where the 
ordinary style caliper will not reach. 
These instruments are just the thing for 
collectors- You put the caliper over your 
specimen and in an iustant, you can see just 
the exact size it measures. 
ing about. 
There is no guess- 
Pa., who puts these Calipers on the market 
would no doubt be pleased to send any one, 
enclosing a 2ct. stamp, one of his little pamph- 
lets entitled ‘‘Modern Measuring Instruments,” 
as it is quite interesting, and fully explains the 
advantage of using these instruments for 
measuring. 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
To THE EDITOR OF THE OREGON Nat- 
URALIST: : 
Dear Sir—I see that I have unwittingly stirred 
up quite a little commotion by my ‘‘Habits of 
the Phoebe.” 
order and to answer some questions. 
I write this to partially restore 
First, I 
will explain my awkward blunder to and an- 
swer Mr. C. O. Ormsbhee. 
I am very sorry to have misquoted him, but 
the mistake came about thus: for the sake of 
convenience, which by the way is great, I keep 
a large number of cheap blank books, one for 
each species. In these I have copied all the 
articles, notes and information I care to pre- 
In 
preparing my article on the Phoebe, I made 
In copying 
Mr. Ormbee’s article, my girl made a mistake, 
serve and my uotes about each species. 
use of the book numbered 456. 
therefore my misquotation. 
In the future you may be sure I sha!l look 
I beg M. Ormbee’s par- 
don, for my sad blunder. I know him to be a 
a careful observer and an enthusiastic natural- 
up such quotations. 
ist, as is shown by his various writings. 
I did not intend any criticism, but merely 
asked for information concerning the eight eggs 
and the nest, as they were out of the ordinary, 
with us at least, and interested me. 
I am very sorry to have offended him and 
hope he will forgive me. As to his question I 
Mr. E.G. Smith, of Columbia, 
will say; I meant that the nests were cemented 
to the articles mentioned and had no other 
support than the cohesion of the materials to 
the articles. 
Here in Michignn, and with most of those 
found in Iowa, this method of construction 
seems to be the rule, rather than otherwise. I 
thank Mr. Ormsbee for his criticisms (if they 
should be called such) as there is nothing that 
is more help to me than the pointing out of 
one’s mistakes. 
Mr. Parkhurst’s note is very interesting and 
I hope we shall hear more from him. I have 
received a letter from a friend in Ann Arbor, 
dated March Ist, 1895, in which he says that 
the Phoebes have arrived. 
Mr. R. P. Fruelich gives the food plant of 
the Vanessa Antiopa as the Nettle. Here I 
find they prefer the Willow, then the Poplar 
and lastly the Elm. I never found them on 
Nettles. Is he not mistaken? Mr. G. H. 
French, in his ‘Butterflies of the Eastern 
United States,” gives the food plant as the 
Willow, Poplar and Elm, as do most other 
authurs. 
Yours truly, - 
IK. (Ga Ianeisie 
Grand Rapids, Michigan, 
Mar. 5th, 1895. 
Mess D. M. Averill & Co., 
Portland, Oregon. 
Dear Sirs:—In the February issue of the 
NATUARLIST, Mr. C. O. Ormsbee, desired in- 
formation as to whether the Phoebe ever glues 
In reply I 
can say that in the past 3 years I have found 9 
its nest to perpendicular surfaces. 
nests of the Phoebe, glued to the perpendicular 
walls of the culverts, under the rail road. 
The walls of these culverts are comparatively 
smoothand can offer no projection on which to 
place a nest, therefore they must be held in 
place by the adhesive quality of the articles by 
which they are fastened. 
I have always found this article to be mud. 
(Black not Clay.) I have found Phoebe’s nests 
situated in various other places, but it seems 
tobethe prevailing fashion here, to place them 
