fantiom loteB on latural li0tori). 



Vol. III. 



PROVIDENCE, APRIL 1, 1886. 



No. 4. 



Entered, at the Providence Post-Offiee as Second-Class Matter. 



A Monthly Devoted to the Distribution of Use- 

 ful Knowledge Concerning the Various De- 

 partments OF Zoology, Mineralogy, and 

 Botany. 50 Cents a Year. 

 Address all communications to 



JAMES M. SOUTHWICK, 

 258 Westminster St., Providence, K. 1., U.S. A. 



I HAVE just finished a much too hasty pe- 

 rusal of the new book, Ttro Years in the 

 Jungle, by WilHam T. Hornadaj', now chief 

 taxidermist in the United States National 

 Museum. Its five hundred pages, descrip- 

 tive of travel in the wilds of India, Borneo, 

 and the Malay Peninsula, are full of reliable 

 descriptions of the native animals, practical 

 advice regarding their capture and prepara- 

 tion for scientific purposes, with abundant 

 exciting adventures experienced in their 

 pursuit, withal an intensel}' interesting work. 

 I have taken the liberty to reprint the de- 

 scription of his first tiger hunt. 



Receipt for Cement for gumming labels 



TO MINERALS AND SHELLS. Pulverizcd gUm 



Arabic, 4 ounces ; pulverized white sugar, 

 2 ounces ; starch, 4 drachms. 



Dissolve all separately in as little water 

 as convenient. Dissolve starch in cold 

 water, then stir it into sugar water, and 

 then that mixture into the gum water. 

 Boil with great care, as burning will spoil 

 the whole. It is well to use a tin vessel 

 raised from the bottom of another vessel 

 containing water. 



After the starch ceases to make the mix- 

 ture look milky it is cooked, but at least an 

 hour's time will be required. 



Keep in large mouthed, tightly corked bot- 

 tles, or when done pour into a tray cov- 

 ered with strong paper, spreading it 

 evenly over the paper, allow to dry ; when 

 dry enough, moisten back of paper and 

 remove it from the gum, dry again thor- 

 oughly, break into fragments and preserve 

 for use in wide mouth stoppered jar. 



As far as I can ascertain I am the onl}' 

 individual who has discovered nests and eggs 

 of Townsend's Flycatcher, Myiadestes Toicn- 

 sencli. On the 17th of June, 1884, I discov- 

 ered a nest with two eggs. The old female 

 was sitting on them, so there could be no 

 mistake as to the identit3\ The nest was 

 placed in the end of an old hollow pine tree 

 that had fallen in a horizontal position. 

 The nest was a ver}' rough structure, 

 composed of twigs and needles of the pine, 

 lined with a few dead leaves. The eggs 

 were about one inch in length by five- 

 eighths. The ground color a very light 

 blue, splashed throughout with brick red 

 spots, and a few purple spots at the larger 

 end where the ground color was nearly 

 obscured. The above nest and eggs I sent 

 with the female bird to the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution. About two weeks later I discovered 

 another nest situated in a similar position in 

 an old pine that had broken off about six feet 

 from the ground, the top portion still lean- 

 ing against the old stump, and in the latter 

 the nest was placed. It contained four 

 eggs ; the}' were just like the first. The 

 old female which I reluctantly had to shoot, 

 was on the nest. I discovered a few days 

 after that the rodents had been at the eggs 

 and confiscated three of them ; the fourth I 

 have yet. Both nests I took in Jefiferson 

 County, Col., at about six thousand feet 

 elevation. 



Some time ago I took a nest of seven eggs 

 of the Rocky Mountain chickadee. Paras 

 Montanns. Thej' were very far advanced. I 

 took out three young birds which I placed 

 in alcohol together with the eggs, and for- 

 warded them to Professor Coes. He wrote 

 me that the}- were the first that he had ever 

 seen, and was veiy much surprised to find 

 them pure white, as the whole of the family 

 lay spotted eggs. The nest was placed in an 

 old hollow pine about two feet below the en- 

 trance hole, and composed entirely of the 

 hair of the common gra}' rabbit. I took the 

 above in Jefl[erson County, Col., at 6,000 feet 

 eleva*tion. Wm. G. Smith. 



