Jan. 1883.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



The birds themselves are brown and 

 white, of various shadings, and their Httle 

 short tails are raised over their backs. 

 Sometimes old nests are found occupied, 

 but not often. They make two nests in a 

 season. Their food consists of insects, or 

 their chrysalis, &c., and locating" as they do 

 where the mosquitoes sometimes numl^er 

 100 to the square inch, they would have 

 no trouble in filling their crops, provided 

 such food was desired. They do use the 

 mosquito before its change from its chrys- 

 alis, as these are found in their stomachs. 

 They care little for the birds of prey after 

 the reeds have grown, as they can escape 

 among them where the large birds cannot 

 follow. But early in the season many fall 

 victims to their pursuers. Were it not for 

 this, the increase would be more than could 

 be accommodated, even on these vast 

 meadows. Being too insignificant to shoot, 

 and their plumage not brilliant enough for 

 ladies' bonnets, &c., they escape the guns 

 of the boys. I have known a collector to 

 obtain 400 to 500 eggs in a day, and have 

 myself added several hundred to the stock 

 of eggs for exchange, thus reducing the 

 valuation of Wrens' eggs : yet I see no 

 diminution in the numbers of the birds in 

 the same locality. But their sharp little 

 voices sound harshly in my ears when I 

 think how many pairs of birds I have ren- 

 dered miserable in my efforts to build up a 

 collection of eggs. — B. B. Haines, MUza- 

 heth, N. J. 



Crossbills. — The article on Crossbills, in 

 "Vol. VI. No. 3," reminds me of an 

 incident occurring three years ago during 

 a trip to Tennessee. I was hunting for 

 specimens on a clearing near Rugby, in 

 the eastern part of the State, when a bird 

 was startled and flew to a wall a rod or two 

 off. My eye was no sooner focused, as it 

 were, on him, than he dropped on the op- 

 posite side of the wall ; but on my running 

 up, he was non est. The three or four 

 seconds I saw him were sufficient to dis- 

 tinguish the outlines of a Crossbill: but 



the place and season (August) were more 

 powerful an argument than my momentary 

 glance, and I passed on, thinking I was 

 deceived by the quickness of the occui*- 

 rence. A day or two later I was surprised, 

 on visiting the same place, by procuring 

 three veritable Red-winged Crossbills from 

 a flock of five — two adults, one immature. 

 Two weeks after, while deer-hunting four- 

 teen miles from the former place, I saw 

 anol^her, but only having a rifle, it w^as not 

 taken. Several days after this I killed two 

 more, four miles from the first place. My 

 last specimen was taken a mile from the 

 last locality. The habits of my bu'ds 

 seemed to differ essentially from others of 

 this erratic species. The country was cov- 

 ered with oak forests ; the birds, keeping 

 near the extremities of broken limbs, ex- 

 ploring the holes and crevices, pulling 

 away the decayed wood, and devouring the 

 insects contained therein. My last speci- 

 men was shot from the roof of a log-house 

 stable. The workmen said the birds were 

 often seen thereabouts, and fed on the 

 manure incident to the locality. 



Mr. Allen kindly compared my birds 

 with a large series of northern and Mexi,- 

 can types, and considers them an interme- 

 diate variety, as regards the formation of 

 their feet and bills. My adults were all 

 much redder than the Mexican variety. 

 From the diversity of the locations, tes- 

 timony of the natives, the plumage of the 

 birds and the season of the year, it is to be 

 inferred that the occurrence was not acci- 

 dental and that they bred in Tennessee. 

 Sorry I am unable to give complete de- 

 tails, as my note-book and the skins are 

 with my collection in Boston. — G. S. 

 Smith, London, Canada. 



Virginia Rail. — Harry F. Haines of 

 Elizabeth, N. J., found a nest of V. R. on 

 the Elizabeth salt meadows containing 

 eight eggs. Haines is the ting bee on 

 Rails' eggs (having secui-ed 1,000 in one 

 season) and Long-billed Marsh Wrens, 

 which he seems to find Avitliout limit. 



