AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 345 



NUMERICAL ENIGMA. 



(two words.) 



I am composed of 18 letters. 1, 14, 15, 11, 5, 17, 18, is one who has 

 charge of the keys of a prison. 7, 15, 17, 17, 11, is one of Nature's 

 restful colors. 2, 3, 11, 5, is several skeins of yarn fastened together. 

 13, 15, 17, 3, 13, is an unusual pleasure. 12, 15, 17, 3, 13, 2, 17, 3, 15, 

 1, is the name of a character in Pilgrim's Progress who conducted 

 Christiana and her company to the House Beautiful. 9, 17, 17, 15, 18, 

 13, 2, 15, 14, 6, 2, is a bird that sings sweetly at evening. 9, 8, 5, 10, 

 4, 7, 6, were pirate chiefs from Scandinavia in the eighth Century. 6, 

 13, 15, 10, 9, 10, 11, 12, is what you are now doing. My whole is a 

 bird dear to all American boys and girls. 



WHAT IS ITS NAME? 



The male bird is yellow all over except its wings, tail and his fore- 

 head, which are black. It is about five inches long, the tail being two 

 inches. The female is like the male, except the yellow is a yellowish 

 gray. They lay four or five eggs. The eggs are about a half inch in 

 length, and are pale blue. The nest I found was in an apple tree about 

 six feet from the ground. It was made of soft down of the thistle, 

 cotton and fine horsehair. I found the nest about the middle of last 

 month, (August.) When the birds fly they sing. They nearly always 

 ily with a wavy motion, singing as they go up. 



J. Lewis Clay, Chicago, 111. 



STILL HUNT, 



(a game for the children.) 



One corner of the room is the Cage; the opposite corner is the Nest; 

 a row of chairs equal distant from the Nest and Cage, is the Ihicket; 

 this row should contain one less chair than the number playing. 



One child is chosen as the Hunter, the other children stand in a line 

 and each one (mentally) gives himself the name of some bird. Num- 

 ber one in the row describes the bird which he represents, and the 

 Hunter tries to guess what the bird is. If unable to guess from the 

 ■description he has the privilege of asking ten questions. When he 

 guesses the name of the bird correctly, (that is captures him) the bird 

 takes his place in the Cage. The hunter then proceeds to number two 

 and tries to capture him in a similar manner, and so on down the line, 

 asking but ten questions of each one. Should the Hunter be unable to 



