Song Birds and Water Fowl 
been found in the interstices of an osprey’s 
nest. Another peculiarity of these hawks is that 
in the fall they often repair and strengthen 
their nests, in evident anticipation of the 
severe weather at hand. ‘These successive ad- 
ditions of material sometimes result in a per- 
fectly enormous building, as in the case of one 
found at Plumb Island, Conn., that was seven 
feet high, and from six to eight feet across. 
& 
Our familiar ‘flicker,’ or golden-winged 
woodpecker, is esteemed a great luxury by Jer- 
sey hunters; and their method of decoying 
them is peculiar. JI noticed, here and there, 
in the scrubby woodland, a very long dead 
branch projecting slantingly upward from near 
the top of a tree, looking half artificial, half 
natural—a clever device for the accommodation 
of flickers, which, in migration, pass over this 
region in great numbers and in fat condition. 
Arriving in the night, they find these conspic- 
uous perches very alluring for resting places, 
and are shot in the early morning. They roost 
so close together that sometimes several will be 
brought down at one discharge. There is so 
much rivalry among hunters in capturing this 
? 
192 
