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ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 8-No. 11 



thicket several times before, and would 

 liaA^e seen it. If any one can cite an in- 

 stance of a Catbird building a mud nest, 

 that may solve the question, and the slight 

 differences in size, shape and color might 

 be passed over as accidental. In visiting 

 a colony of Pui-ple Grackles I found another 

 curious set. There is no doubt of their 

 identity for I saw the female on the nest, 

 which was a common P. G's nest. There 

 were four eggs ; three of them dark brown, 

 scratched, mottled and blotched all over 

 with darker brown. The fourth was a 

 light olive green, with large blotches of 

 light brown or bronze. There were no 

 scratches of any kind on this egg and all 

 the colors were ver}^ light, though entirely 

 different from a normal Grackle egg, as 

 well as from the other three. An expe- 

 rienced collector to whom I showed one of 

 the dark eggs (without telling its history) 

 pronounced it a Nighthawk's {Chordeiles 

 popetue) egg. I don't suppose this is a 

 new species, but it certainly is a curious 

 freak of nature. 



I would like to correct a couple of the 

 printer's eiTors in my note on the Pigeon 

 Hawk's nest in O. and O. for September. 

 The date, "March 2 " should read "March 

 22," and in the sentence " marked unevenly 

 with five dots of reddish brown " read 

 "fine dots." — Charles D. Gibson, Henovo, 

 Pennsylvania. 



A Surprised Blue jay. — At the back end 

 of my store, and just outside of a window, 

 is a box on which we mix the dough to feed 

 the chicks. On Sunday morning when I 

 shaved myself I took my mirror to the win- 

 dow so I could have a good light. Just as 

 I finished my work I noticed an old Blue- 

 jay drop down on the box and begm eat- 

 ing the dough from the pan of chicken 

 feed. As I was on the opposite side of 

 the glass it did not see me. I looked at it 

 for a moment and then " for fun " turned 

 the mirror around so the glass would face 

 the bird. It was just taking a mouthful of 

 dough as it looked up and saw, as it sup- 



posed, another Jay with its mouthful also. 

 It seemed greatly astonished and failed to 

 swallow its food for some time, but soon 

 did so, and then in Bluejay style " bowed," 

 as much as to say " good morning, sir." 

 As a matter of course the glass made the 

 other Jay bow also, and the next saluta- 

 tion was " kechunk ! kechunk !" I suppose 

 that is Jay language, but I do not under- 

 stand it. Then it proceeded to fill its 

 mouth full of dough again and its shadow 

 did the same. This seemed to anger it 

 very much, and after giving one Bluejay 

 war-whoop, it flew against the glass. Its 

 astonished look at the result of its attack 

 was laughable. The first thing it did was 

 to retreat to the farther side of the box, 

 and from there eye the antagonist. After 

 gazing for some time its hunger overcome 

 it and it took another mouthfvil, " as did 

 its shadow." The Jay stopped with full 

 mouth, turned its head first one way then 

 the other, and finally hopped around the 

 glass and stood face to face with me. Our 

 faces were not more than six inches apart, 

 and I never expect to see a more aston- 

 ished look than was in its eyes just then. 

 But one look was enough ; and after an- 

 other big Jay yell it made as good time 

 from there as a Bluejay ever made, I guess ; 

 and my dough has remained undisturbed 

 ever since. — S. H. L., 3IcLeanhorough, 

 III., in Germantovm Telegraph. 



RiDGWAY Ornithological Club. A meet- 

 ing of the Ornithologists of Chicago was 

 held on Friday, September 7, and an or- 

 ganization effected. The society adopted 

 the name of The Ridgway Ornithological 

 Club of Chicago, in honor of Mr. Robert 

 Ridgway, Curator of Ornithology at the 

 United States National Museum. A con- 

 stitution and by-laws were adopted, and 

 ofiicers wei e duly elected as follows : Presi- 

 dent, Dr. J. W. Velie ; Vice-President and 

 Treasurer, George F. Morcom ; Secretary, 

 H. K. Coale ; Curator, Joseph L. Hancock ; 

 Librarian. F. L. Rice. 



