July, 1885.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



Ill 



Brief Notes. 



SoNti OF THE WlIITE-KUMI'ED SlIKIKE. — Last 



Silling, iluiing the mating season, a male Wliite- 

 nimiieil Sbrilie was accustomed to percli on a 

 giant Soapwced near my door and sing in a 

 very spirited manner. Tlie song was entirely 

 new to me, and quite ditferent from the harsh cry, 

 which I had often heard them utter while searcli- 

 ing for food, or perched upon some lone Soap- 

 weed stalk on the prairie. As nearly as I can dc- 

 scrilie tlie song from notes taken while listening to 

 tlie bird, it consisted of the following sounds, each 

 note being repeated a number of times then fol- 

 lowed by the ne.xt in the series, and so on: Pe-dee,pe- 

 ilee, jie-dee, cre-e-e-eep, cre-e-e-eep, cre-e-e-eep; tehee- 

 tehee, tehee-tehee; sometimes ending with a long 

 trill t- r- r- V- re^ — t-r-r-r-ree, and at others with 

 a hoarse chatter, sounding very like ehut-it-up, 

 chul-it-np, when he would dart away to the neigh- 

 Ijoring hillside, soon returning to renew his song. 

 This continued for several days, when I presume 

 he succeeded in securing a mate for he disap- 

 peared and I heard his song no more. — Cluivlcs 11. 

 Marsh, Silcer City, New Mexieo, June 20, 1885. 



Owls. I notice considerable comment in the 

 O. and O. on the rarity and abundance of Owls, 

 tliis past Winter. In Ontario County, in the 

 vicinity of Canandaigua, one or two Snowy Owls 

 are usually noticed every Winter. One was shot 

 in December, 1884, and a second was seen in 

 January, 1885 ; both near Canandaigua. Screech 

 Owls have been quite common, and one in the 

 red i)lumagc was reported as seen, but not taken. 

 One was brought me in the Fall of 1884, which, 

 while referable to the gray phase rather than the 

 red, yet was considerably tinged with reddish. 



Diligent and careful inquiry has failed to reveal 

 tlie presence of any Acadian Owls. I know of 

 no Ontario County specimens, though Halhbun 

 mentions it as a rare bird in central New York. 

 (List p. 37.) 



No specimens of the Short-eared have come to 

 my notice. One was taken in January, 1884. 

 All the above data are for Ontario County, N. Y. 

 — C. U. Wilder, Wuyland, N. Y. 



On Describing the Coloks of Bikds. Some 

 years ago I had much difficulty in coming to a 

 correct understanding of the terms used in de- 

 scribing the colors of birds. Writers used, differ- 

 ent names for the same colors and there was no 

 systematic order in the parts described. Ornith- 

 ologists should, I think, agree on this, and I sug- 

 gest, first, the upper parts; second, the under 

 parts; third, special markings of the head ; fourth, 

 special markings of wings and tail ; fifth, bill and 



feet; sixth, comparisons and differences of lints 

 on various parts. I adopted this plan in a work 

 which was in the publishers' hands at the time of 

 the Boston fire, and which will probably never 

 see more light than it did then. — Walter Iloxie. 



OoLOGiCAi, Suggestions — Metuices. Capaci- 

 ty is an important datum, easily ascertained by 

 immersing the egg in a glass cylinder (an Argand 

 lamp chimney will do,) and with a narrow slip 

 of paper fastened to the outside and neatly gi-adu- 

 ated. By using the metric system much tiHelesn eom- 

 piitdtivn is saved. Weight of egg also, though not 

 so important, may bo highly instructive. Here 

 again the metrices will be found of great advant- 

 age. I hope I may live to see them adopted in 

 this country. Where Iheir advantages are so 

 manifest as they certainly are to all naturalisis, it 

 is strange to me that they have not yet come into 

 use. For myself I still cry peecavi every time I 

 l)Ut down a measurement in inches and si.x- 

 tcenths. — W<tlter Ilo.rie. 



Albino Woodciiuck. To-day we sent an 

 Albino Woodchuck to New York to have set up. 

 This pure white animal with pink eyes has been 

 seen about the farm, where it came from, for five 

 or si.\ years. It is a female and will be set uji in 

 a natural manner by an expert taxidermist. — 

 6'. W. Comstock, Sect. Ornithology, (Jreenjield, Mass. 



Rare and Curious Birds' Nests. 



BY niOF. TII0M.\S G. llENTItY. 



From time immemorial, it has been the current iiopiilar 

 belief that birds of the same species never varied their 

 style of architecture, but coustructed the same form of 

 nest, and out of the same materials, as their remotest pro- 

 f;enitors did, instinct being the i)rinci]>lc by which they 

 were guided. This opinion, though long since exploded by 

 science, is still, I am sorry to say, entertained by those who 

 should know better. An examination of nests from differ- 

 ent and widely separated localities affords evidence sutti- 

 cient to convince the most skeptical of persons of its erro- 

 neousness. The most marked differences will be noticeable 

 in the composing materials, as these will be found to vary 

 with the environment, and in a wider degree in the nests of 

 some, than in those of other, species. Even the configura- 

 tion, which is less prone to change, is often inllueuced by 

 the circumstances of position and latitude. 



Among the Thrushes, the Robin is the most addicted to 

 variation, and this is not wholly confined to the constitu- 

 ents of his usually mud-plastered domicile, but is frequent- 

 ly to be observed in the arrangement thereof, and in the 

 contour and position as well. In Southern New Jersey, 

 where low marshy woods abound cm the outskirts of towns 

 and villages, Robins build nests which contrast more mark- 

 edly with what we are accustomed to see in more northern 

 localities. The great masses of a grayish-green fibrous 

 lichen, which hang from tree and sh^ub in those sylvan 

 marshes, are freely utilized by them, and its very nature to 

 mat, when pressed together, precludes the necessity of 

 using mud. 



In the Summer of 1877 my attention was directed tu a 



