Dec. 1885.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



191 



berry bushes u secure place to fix its nest in. A 

 walk through a patch of beny bushes in April, 

 May and June, before the berry pickers are 

 abroad, will certainly startle some from their 

 briery retreat. Make an opening in the side of 

 this dome-shaped berry bush from whence our 

 bird has flown, and there — surely, if that is not 

 a pretty nest, and if our bird has no idea of 

 iusthetics, it is capable of accidentally arriving at 

 wonderful results in the harmonious arrangement 

 of forms and colors. 



The Purple Martins, every year, take possession 

 as a habitation, of the projecting ledges of the 

 capitals, over the columns, of the court house 

 gallery, in the town of Houma. Here, every 

 season, two or three successive broods of young 

 are raised by each pair. Sometimes the town 

 boys of the neighborhood wickedly assault them 

 with missiles; but the space between the ledges 

 and the gallery ceiling being only four or five 

 inches, the nests do not suffer much damage. 

 Those who esteem the Martins here, every Spring 

 prepare gourds and erect them on poles, which 

 are readily occupied. 



The Blue Yellow-backud Warbler and the 

 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher are two species of our 

 l>rincipal breeding birds; but their nests are diffi- 

 cult to discover on account of the exuberance of 

 moss and foliage of our trees, amongst which 

 these birds breed. 



Least Bitterns are very numerous in our 

 swamps and bayous. They are commonly known 

 here by the less euphonious name of Cap Cap. 

 While inspecting a deserted Heronry last May, 

 I started a Least Bittern from one of the old nests. 

 I examined the nest and found therein its four 

 cg'gs. 



Purple Gallinules breed among the rushes of 

 our bayous and swamps, principally during May 

 and .June. The young of this beautiful aquatic 

 Ijird, when imfledged, resemble young turkeys. 

 They lollow their mother, walking on the gras.sy 

 surface of the water, in her wanderings in search 

 of crayfish, snails, etc. 



A pair of Yellow-billed Cuckoos built a nest in 

 our orchard last July. This nest — a lining of 

 moss resting on a few sticks — was situated in the 

 topmost fork of a Fig tree branch, eleven feet 

 from the ground. Alas! the luscious figs that 

 studded every branch of the tree, even immedi- 

 ately over the Cuckoo's nest, began ripening be- 

 fore the female had finished depositing her eggs, 

 and the frequent visits we paid the tree in search 

 of fruit caused the luckless pair to abandon their 

 nest, leaving two eggs at our mercy. 



Song of the Golden-crowned Thrush. 



( Siu rus au jicajnUv s. ) 



DK. Mouuis GIBBS, IN Forest and Stream. 



The song of this species has been but little de- 

 scribed by writers; in fact it is only within the 

 last few years that mention has been made of its 

 best musical efibrts. The common, loud clanking 

 notes so often heard, have been listened to by all 

 collectors, but a superior strain, only occasionally 

 uttered apparently, has been listened to by but 

 few intelligently. I think it safe to say that no 

 bird among us which is so well known has eluded 

 the describers of bird songs as this one has done. 

 I listened to the true song of the Oven Bird in 1H80 

 for the first time, and before I had read of its dis- 

 covery by any writer. The first burst of melody 

 reached me in a dense piece of low woods filled 

 with underbrush, in Montcalm county, in May, 

 and the delightful notes were .surprising and 

 doubly pleasing to me in such a location. To de- 

 scribe the notes would be next to impossible. It 

 is more diflicult than the songs of the Warbling 

 Vireo and Tanager, and with more dash and har- 

 mony if it is possible. At first on hearing the 

 notes the idea presented itself that a species new 

 to me was singing, and my extreme care in reach- 

 ing the glade in hopes of a shot was what secured 

 me a chance of witnessing a most singular per- 

 formance. Carefully crawling through the almost 

 impenetrable growth of small saplings and brush , 

 I came at last to a partial clearing over which a 

 bird, apparenUy in the highest transports of joy, 

 was fluttering in irregular flight. It is not sur- 

 prising that I failed to recognize the bird in its 

 decidedly unusual performance, for there was not 

 one point in which it resembled itself in ordinary 

 habits, and the specimen would have been shot at 

 once in ray eagerness to add a new bird to my 

 collection had I not observed another bird, un- 

 doubtedly its mate, perched on the ground near, 

 and which appeared to be a Golden-crowned 

 Thrush and the centre of attraction to the delight- 

 ful warliler overhead. Never had I heard the 

 song before, and never have I witnessed such a 

 scene. This was indeed making love with a spirit 

 which I had never witnessed among our birds be- 

 fore. Tlie song was almost contiu\ious, and with 

 an occasional interruption to the new song by the 

 common chattering notes so well known and de- 

 scribed- by Cones as a "harsh crescendo," the 

 notes were all of the most melodious description. 

 The energetic unconscious fellow was meanwhile 

 constantly flying about above his inamorata, de- 

 sciibing every form of flight except that of regu- 



