ing, and the young in two of the oth- 

 ers were dead, and the mother Rail 

 seemed to have forsaken the nest and 

 only once after did I hear hei notes in 

 the vicinity. The mnt egg and one 

 of the others was addled. The nest 

 itself was composed of the dry blades 

 of the sedge grass, and more neatly 

 formed and better concealed than are 

 the nests of the Virginian Rail, while 

 the eggs are smaller in size, more ob- 

 long in form and darker in hue than 

 are those of the other species. The 

 appearance of both species, though, 

 at a short distance very much resem- 

 ble each other. 



Wm. L. Kells. 



The "Nesike," "Aloha" and other 

 women's literary clubs of Taconia will 

 during the Winter endeavor to secure 

 the general observance of a Bird T)ay 

 in the schools of the State of Washing- 

 ton, wherein children maybe taught to 

 protect the birds now so wantonly de- 

 stroyed, and to be thoughtful and ob 

 servant of all forms of life. 



They will also discourage the use of 

 birds for millinery purposes. 



H. 



The largest deposit of cinnabar or 

 quicksilver ore in the United States, 

 if not in the world, is situated in lyane 

 County, Oregon. Croppings assay 20 

 to 40 per cent and in some instances 

 even 70 per cent mercury. It is esti- 

 mated that there is 3,000,000 tons of 

 ore in sight. 



THE ORKGON NATURALIST. 



ROSY FINCH. 



51 



One winter several 3'ears ago a 

 small flock of pretty birds came to us 

 in a great storm, and finding shelter 

 under our eaves concluded to remain 

 with us. They .soon became quite 

 tame, would take food from the win- 

 dow sill and would flutter around my 

 head when I went out to feed them. 

 The birds left in the spring about the 

 time bluebirds return from their win- 

 ter quarters, but came back again 

 with the first stormy weather of win- 

 ter, and thus they come and go each 

 year. Ttie flock has greatly inrceased 

 in size, last winter numbering more 

 than a hundred. 



From Dr. C. Hart Merriam I 

 learned that they are Hepburns Rosy 

 Finch. 



I was surprised last winter to find 

 that they were fond of animal food. 

 I had always fed them grain and 

 weed seeds. One evening we hung 

 some pieces of pork out of doors and 

 next morning I found the meat cov- 

 ered with a clamoring flock of Rosy- 

 flnches. Pieces of waste meat saved 

 for cats and dog we divided with the 

 birds and they showed their apprecia- 

 tion of bits of tallow which I fed them 

 with their grain. 



I would like to know something of 

 the life history of the.se little birds, to 

 whom we are much attached. 



Susan Tucker. 



The Weeping Spruce (Picea Brew- 

 eriana), one of the rarest trees in the 

 world, is found in Southern Oregon, 



Black, blue and red ink, used in 

 German public schools has been found 

 to contain microbes. Wiien scientific- 

 ally developed they prove fatal to 

 mica within four days. 



