Dec. 1885.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



189 



palience, perhaps, being now taxed, we will 

 make our swcal box. Take a pine box say 13 

 inches deep, 13 inches wide and 24 inches long. 

 Fill it to depth of 5 inches with sawdust. This 

 we will wet thoroughly, not so that the sawdust 

 will float, but next door to it. Place this on the 

 cellar bottom, lay our skin on the sawdust, cover 

 the box with wet carpet, (not so wet as to drip) 

 place the cover over the carpet. Our .skin will 

 keep in this way from two to five days, and some- 

 limes longer, fresh and soft. This is the same 

 liox we shall use in softening up dried skins. In 

 it we place our skin and take a rest. 



The Rose-breasted Grosbeak. 



(Z(i)niiudia ludoviciana. ) 



BY C. K C.\RR, MADISON, WIS. 



This line representative of its fiimily is now one 

 of the common birds of Waupaca County, Wis- 

 consin. A few years back, it was comparatively 

 •rare. 



In September, 1878, I captured my first speci- 

 men, it wa?. however, mutilated beyond preserva- 

 tion, as I was within ten feet of it when I shot. I 

 could only find a part of the rose breast and a 

 small portion of its head, l)Ut ample enough for 

 identification beyond a doubt. For two }'ears 

 after I only saw it occasionally during the migra- 

 tions. Then I was absent during the next two 

 years, but upon my return I found it quite com- 

 mon about the streets and borders of the villages, 

 even nesting in the shrubbery in the door-yards. 

 The farmers in that vicinity call it the "Pea 

 Bird" on account of it's destroying green peas, 

 and about the village gardens it soon ruins a 

 "patch" of peas. It tears open the pods and takes 

 out part of the peas. If it would make clean 

 work of it, it would have a better reputation, but it 

 scarcely ever takes more than one or two peas 

 from one pod, and then goes to the next, and so 

 on from day to day. 



It generally visits the gardens early in the 

 morning before the people are about, nor does the 

 old time "scare crow" frighten it away. After the 

 first morning it generally takes stones and "clubs." 

 We added a number of fine specimens to our cabi- 

 net by watching a small "pea patch" that we culti- 

 vated, until the neighbors complained at being 

 awakened from their morning slumber by the re- 

 port of a gun, and threatened to enforce the law. 

 I have always found its nest in a slender sapling 

 situated Irom six to twelve feet from the ground. 

 Both nest and eggs are too well known to merit 

 description here. 



Catalogue of the Birds of Kalamazoo 

 County, Michigan. 



BY DI{. MORIIIS GIBBS. — I'AKT X. 



314. [017.] ^Ethyia vallisneria (Wils.) Boic. 

 Canvas-back. A straggler from the great lakes ; 

 occasionally taken on our small inland lakes. A 

 very strong flyer and early taken. Usually asso- 

 ciates with the Redhead while here. Taken late 

 in the Fall. 



21.J. [618.] ^Wujlii amcricana (Eyt.) Bp. 

 Redhead. Abundant transient. Common about 

 April 1.5th and November 1st. Observed from 

 April 3d to 19th, and from October 28th to No- 

 vember 19th. Never summers. 



316. [630.] Gkmgulaglaucium americana (Bp.) 

 Ridgw. American Golden-eye. A rare species 

 in Spring and Fall, but often quite common in 

 December and February, occasionally throughout 

 the Winter mouths, when the river is open in 

 spots. A very hardy species, usually leaving us 

 in early March and not appearing till very late 

 Fall. Much like 77. ulacwlk in its habits and 

 times of visitations. 



217. [631.] Cliiiiffuhi alheula (Linn.) Steph. 

 Butterball ; Bufllehead. A very common species. 

 Arrives in Spring before ice is gone and remains 

 for a month or more in small flocks or pairs. 

 Again appears in Fall about September 30th, and 

 remains frequently until November 20th, and oc- 

 casionally much later. A tough, swift-flying 

 Duck and hard to kill trom its skill in diving. 



218. [033 ] Harcldii (jl((ci(dis (Linn.) Leach. 

 Long-tailed Duck : Old Squaw. A rare Winter 

 straggler, only twice observed to my knowledge. 

 A flock appeared the 14th and 34th of last Febru- 

 ary, and a few specimens were taken. Only ap- 

 pears from the north during severe weather and 

 when the streams are nearly all frozen over. 

 While here the thermometer registered 36 ' to 30 

 below zero, 



319. [631.] Jl/cfa»ett«/!Wc« (Linn.) Boie. Vel- 

 vet Scoter. Once taken by Mr. Syke. A rare 

 transient. 



230. [634.] Ensmatii i-it, i-nbida (Wills.) Bp. 

 Kuddy Duck. A very common but rather irregu- 

 lar migrant. Have not often met with it in the 

 Spring, but it is exceedingly abundant some Falls. 

 Keeps in large flocks. The birds dive well and 

 are difficult to hit and afterwards to bag. It ar- 

 rives in early April and is never common during 

 Spring migration to my knowledge. Have seen 

 it as late as April 14th. It again appears about 

 October 15th and becomes abundant by Novem- 



