August, 1883.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



63 



hollow stump more tlian tlie sketch shows. 



After that I found a Wilson Thrush 

 with three eggs upon the ground beneath 

 the shadow of a blackberry bush — such a 

 nest and bird as I found at Rockville, Ct. 

 These were also badly gone and I could 

 not blow them. Both nests are in my 

 possession. A set of four Red-eyed Vireos 

 was my next, and a set of five Catbird's 

 came after, the last one of which I blowed 

 the end out in cleaning. 



I have seen only one Baltimore Oriole 

 here, and that was on May 12th. He 

 stayed for a few days and then disappeared. 

 Not a Blue Jay, Chewink, Indigo Finch 

 have I seen, and I don't believe they visit 

 this locality. Bobolinks are here in great 

 numbers and make the meadows ring with 

 their melody. Thrushes, too, are plenty 

 here and in variety. — T. J. Rigney. 



^Voodcock and Turtle. 



While on a collecting trip at Gardner's 

 Lake, New London County, Conn., last 

 Spring, we made some enquiries of an old 

 gentleman about Birds of Prey, Ducks, 

 etc., about the lake. After giving us the 

 desired information the old gentleman sta- 

 ted that he was a few years ago driving 

 slowly down the road when he heard some- 

 thing "flopping" its wings over the wall. 

 Thinking it might be "a wounded bird he 

 got over the wall and found a Woodcock 

 struggling in the mud, flapping its wings 

 laboriously. Taking it for granted the 

 bird was wounded, he seized it and in pull- 

 ing it out found that its foot was fast, and 

 he only secured it by leaving its foot be- 

 hind. This state of things surprised the 

 old man not a little, and while he stood 

 there he noticed the mud moving where 

 he had drawn the bird out. He secured a 

 hoe which was in his wagon and began to 

 dig in the mud ; finding there was some- 

 thing alive there, he worked until he 

 brought to terra firma a good sized Snap- 

 ping Turtle. It would appear that the 

 Woodcock in search of food had walked 



over the soft mud, and the turtle, also in 

 search of a dinner, had seized the Wood- 

 cock by the foot, and would have taken it 

 under only the hole was not deep enough 

 for the mud turtle to get the bird below 

 the surface ; hence the struggle for life. 



The Black-headed Grosbeak, {Zamelodia 

 inelafiocephala,) is a well known bird and 

 one whose biography has been pretty well 

 written up, but the following fact — one 

 which does not appear to have got into 

 print — may prove interesting to the read- 

 ers of the 0. and O. On June 1st I sur- 

 prised a male in the rather unmasculine 

 act of incubating. The nest was in the 

 crotch of a cottonwood sapling, in a grove 

 near the Arkansas river, and about seven 

 feet from the ground. I first saw it at a 

 distance of forty or fifty feet, and was 

 thus enabled, by a careful apj^roach, to 

 identify the bird on the nest, but to make 

 "assurance doubly sure," I shot the bird 

 and examined its generative organs. The 

 female was not seen at all, although the 

 cries of the male attracted quite a lot of 

 sympathetic flycatchers, wrens, orioles, etc. 

 Whether this assumption of household 

 cares is a customary habit of the bird, or 

 merely an individual instance of petticoat 

 subjection, I leave to some more exjieri- 

 enced guesser. The nest contained four 

 fresh eggs and was composed outwardly 

 of dead weed stalks loosely stuck together, 

 and inwardly of dry rootlets compactly 

 woven to form the cup. Although a great 

 many males have been seen here this 

 Spring, I have not seen a single female. — 

 C. W. Beckhmn. South Rueblo, Colorado. 



"Our Holiday Bird." In your Februa- 

 ry number "J. M. W." notes the Blue- 

 bird as like the poor — always with us. It 

 might further be said that it always bears 

 the National colors. Red, White and Blue. 

 It is also one of the most strikingly pecu- 

 liar of American singing birds, and in its 

 habits a model of civilized bird life. — -T. 

 G. Coo'per, 31. D., Hayvards, Cal. 



