NATURAL HISTORY SKETCHES 337 



I have never taken their eggs. They breed in large 

 high trees and arc not easily obtained. Capt. Brock, at 

 Lake Jessnp, a few years since, told me of a pair he 

 thought were breeding, but a look at the tree and hole 

 was sufficient. We did not get the eggs, but both birds 

 were secured. They were not inclined to leave the tree 

 and we thought they must have eggs or young ; and this 

 was early in March. Mr. Maynard of Boston collected 

 seven or eight on the west coast of Florida in the winter 

 of 1883-84 and I had two sent me from near Palatka. A 

 smaller bird of this variety is found in the West Indies 

 and a larger one in Mexico. 



Bird Study 



Interest in bird lore is being stimulated among Calais 

 students, teachers and would-be naturalists, and I have 

 been asked by a lady teacher to write a Bird Study paper 

 for some preliminary work. As early spring is the time 

 to begin watching the birds, while in their migrations, 

 some hints on the subject may now seem quite apropos. 



Birding is a pastime akin to hunting. It affords entirely 

 as much freedom, equal opportunities to draw near to 

 nature, as many hazards to call into play nerve and 

 fortitude, and chances for acquiring quite as much know- 

 ledge. The chief difference is that one necessarily 

 involves bird slaughter, the other must embrace the not- 

 ing of facts. I might say it is essentially a pastime for 

 woman. Her nature craves the recreation of hunting, 

 but, on account of her delicate sympathies, not from lack 

 of nerve, she shrinks, as a rule, from the use of the gun. 

 She can, however, endure and even enjoy the hazards, 



