110 Recent Literature, 



room. This nest — a most uncomfortable affair, about the depth of 

 a soup-plate — was made of large rough sticl^s, some of them about 

 ten inches long, which they brought and laid on the outside of the 

 window-sill, if the window remained closed, for the occupant of the 

 room to add to the nest, which she faithfully did, and the nest was 

 soon completed, the inner lining being dry grass and straw. But 

 one egg was laid in this rude nest in its present location, inasmuch 

 as the male one day decided the fate of "household and home," by 

 bringing to his mate a large Gopher snake, which twirled itself 

 around his beak more than half alive, whereupon, with a peculiar 

 nervous sensation, the lady immediately removed their lodging to 

 the " cold ground '' among the cactus, where the birds hatched a 

 promising brood, and again brought them to the house for food, like 

 chickens. The young birds are much like young turkeys, and at 

 full size are about as large as half-grown turkey-hens. The " Road- 

 Runner " particularly mentioned never forgot its attachment to 

 Miss Davies, and would follow her everywhere after its chicks were 

 grown ; they only parted when the family left the country, — 

 leaving the birds behind, which they now regret. 

 San Rafael, Cal. 



Cerent Eittraturr, 



Aughey's Notes on the Food of the Birds of Nebraska. — In 

 a paper of fifty pages,* contributed to the " Report of the United States 

 Entomological Commission for 1877," Professor Aughey records his obser- 

 vations on the food of the birds of Nebraska, with especial reference to 

 their locust-eating propensities. These observations extend over a period 

 of thirteen years, and include the examination of the stomachs of probably 

 a thousand specimens. He says: "Up to the present year [187 7] my 

 studies in this field have been pursued with no thought of a publication of 

 the results, but simply from a love for such pursuits, and hence my notes 

 are not as complete as they otherwise would have been." Yet we find 

 under a large number of the species tabulated statements of the contents 

 of the stomachs of from two to a dozen or more specimens of each species, 



* Notes on the Nature of the Food of the Birds of Nebraska. By Professor 

 Samuel Aughey, of Lincoln, Neb. First Ann. Kep. U. S. Ent. Com. for the 

 Year 1877. Appendix II, pp. 13 - 62. 1878. 



