70 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 15-No. 5 



swarmed with insects of that kind in such 

 immense numbers as to destroy the young 

 birds, or drive the parents away, so that they 

 perished. I have also observed the bird singing 

 in a tree pause between each song to peck 

 among his feathers in a very ludicrous manner. 



I shall not soon forget an adventure I had 

 in securing a set of eggs of this species, and 

 which now adorns my cabinet. The site was 

 a lonely place in the woods, and in passing 

 through its shades my attention was arrested 

 by a pair of the birds gathering materials for 

 a nest. On pausing to observe I soon found 

 the location was in a tall chestnut at least 

 sixty feet from the ground, and in due time, 

 ecjuipped witli a long rope, I essayed the cap- 

 ture of the nest. The nearest limb was about 

 eighteen feet from the ground, and the method 

 of ascent proposed was to cast one end of the 

 rope over this branch, making it into an im- 

 provised ladder by tying short sticks into it at 

 short intervals, and drawing it up and securing 

 the other end to an adjacent tree. The project 

 worked admirably, and the tree was easily 

 mounted; the beautiful nest and eggs were 

 made secure and the descent begun. Beneatli 

 was an uncanny place to fall — a dense thicket 

 of heavy brush that seemed scarcely penetrable 

 — but the n)oment I trusted myself to the rope 

 ladder in descent it parted. I tried too late to 

 clasp the tree and tore my hands badly by con- 

 tact with the rough bark. There was but a : 

 moment's time to think, but that moment was i 

 sufficient to till me with the direst alarm as I | 

 recalled to mind the sort of landing place that 

 awaited my coming. Only for an instant, how- 

 ever, and I could scarcely realize that the dan- 

 ger was stifely ^lassed and I was gently standing 

 like a wedge in apparently the only staiuling 

 place, supported cm every side by the stubs | 

 and stakes the thought of whose sharp jioints 

 had so recently alarmed me. 



A very singular set of this species was one of 

 my captures a few years ago. There were only 

 two eggs and there were a number of days' in- 

 terval ))et\\een their deposit. Tliese were the 

 largest eggs of this species I have ever seen, 

 and one of them was of the i>ui'est white with- | 

 out a sj)()t, the other lieavily and boldy marked 

 like a Kingbird's. 



T should fail to do justice to these little birds i 

 if I neglected to extol their virtues. Their 

 whole lives seem devoted to the service of 

 men. Their food consists of the insects in 

 their various stages which infest our orcliard 

 and forest trees, and the (•a]>ture of an es- 

 pecially fat cateri)illar dennding the orchard of 



its foliage is a feast that calls forth their loud- 

 est songs of rejoicing — which is high praise, 

 for herein they rank witlK)ut a peer. 



John N. Clark. 

 Old Saybrook, Conn. 



Notes from Lake Forest. Ill, 



I am laid up for a few days, the result of a 

 fall from a tree; and thought I would send in 

 a few notes which may be of interest. 



Last June I found a set of Wilson's Thrush 

 containing three eggs of the thrusli and seven 

 Cowbird's eggs. The nest was on a limb pro- 

 jecting over the sidewalk in a part of the 

 town most frequented. 



Last winter has been a very mild one. Shore 

 Larks, Redpolls and Lai)land Longspurs have 

 been here all the time. On January 1st I saw 

 two Snowy Owls. 



February 8th, a boy brought me a set of 

 three Great Horned Owls, and I found another, 

 February 22(1. A set of two was found here, 

 March 1st. 



I have never noticed any articles regarding 

 climbers. In trees such as we have here 

 climbers are a necessity in collecting hawks, 

 etc. I have had a pair made with double 

 spurs, about an inch and a half long and bent 

 to an angle of about 4")°. I think that with 

 this kind of a climber the feet are better sup- 

 ported in climbing a tree, and the climbers 

 catch into the bark much more satisfactorily. 

 Besides, there is just about half the risk of the 

 climber slipping when there are two s^jurs, 

 that there is when there is only one. 



11'. C. Pratt. 

 Marcli 4, 1S90. 



Large Set of Eggs of the Pewee. 



If I may be pardoned for mentioning some- 

 thing about such a well-known bird I would 

 like to speak of what I thought a remarkably 

 large set of eggs. On May 4, 18S8, I collected 

 a Phoebe's (Sai/ai'itis p/Ki'lir) nest containing 

 ten (10) eggs. The nest was placed luider a 

 bridge and composed of the usual materials. 



I crossed this bridge several times every day 

 during the time occupied in building the nest 

 and depositing the eggs, and never observed 

 but the one pair of birds. 



Incubation was slightly begun in some of the 

 eggs. Mark B. M'Mh. 



Maoon, Mioh. 



[The largest set of this bird's eggs that 1 

 know of was seven, and these were found in 

 Chester Co., Pa. — T. P. .V.] 



