74: 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 15-iSro. 5 



two hundred miles, and had reached our fiekl, 

 when a telegram brought to my companion tlie 

 sad news that his brother had died. Of course 

 that ended one season's collecting, and it 

 might be termed a failure all round. 



Two subsequent springs have found me 

 travelling far for a notable hernory where there 

 breeds annually two hundred "Great Blues." 

 To my real disappointment the feeble cries of 

 nestlings greeted my ears each season. 



Bubo chances a nest in these woods now and 

 then, and I think myself well acquainted with 

 youiKj Owls. One adventure with them will 

 ever be vivid by the scars which mother Owl 

 left me. 



Many years since a pair of Bald Eagles 

 brought out two tine specimens of their kind 

 within a half mile of my father's house, and 

 when I discovered the nest it was not more 

 than fifteen feet from the ground in a small 

 tree, and that accounted for my failure to find 

 it. 



All day I had wandered over the wild prairies 

 and through marshy tangle, and at sunset 

 found a nest of the White Crane. Two fine 

 eggs repaid well the effort. Night came on 

 and camp was seven miles away. Cold clouds 

 and a chill, frosty wind made a night without 

 shelter a thing to be dreaded. I lost my way 

 and became confused, for a number of very 

 distant prairie fires sent up a reddish glow 

 against the clouds. A heavy gun and a hunt- 

 ing sack with something of plunder made 

 walking difficult. Near ten o'clock at night 

 the beacon light in the Avindovv of a herder's 

 shanty bade me welcome. But to this day 

 I have more to regret the breaking of one of 

 those precious eggs than the lonely night 

 walk. 



Little things oftimes hinder our success. 

 Such is the Cowbird. As a despoiler of 

 homes she is preeminent. Little she cares 

 whose domains she enters. Once I detected 

 the little witch peering longingly at the new 

 made domicile of a little Iluby-throat. 1 

 hoped she would deposit (me of those lusti-e- 

 less eggs, for I wanted it to tell of. How 

 often has our joy at finding a rare and long 

 sought nest been turned into <lisgust at the 

 presence of Cowbirds' eggs and the renKun.s 

 of those which would have been a treasure. 



One trip I cannot forget. I took another 

 fellow's dog with me to point a few (Jrouse 

 nests. He was said to be good at it. He was. 

 He pointer! the nest and then ate the eggs. 



Then there is the old Black Crow. There is 

 much of poetry about a Crow, more of cun- 



ning, most of greed. I had hunted many 

 days in one of the choicest ranges of lake 

 and wood to be found in the North. Many rare 

 nests were building. Hope ran high. A flock»of 

 unemployed Crows came into the woods and 

 "camped" three days. When they moved on, 

 the best of my marked down sets of eggs went 

 with them, among the rest a set of the Swallow- 

 tailed Kite. 



My canvas boat I have mended. I have worn 

 out a costly malarial fever and healed a broken 

 shoulder, but my antipathy for his Sable ex- 

 cellency grows even against my desire. 



J. W. Preston. 

 Baxter, Iowa. 



Nesting of Wilson's Thrush in 

 Pennsylvania. 



To most of the readers of the O. & O., sup- 

 posing that they are New Englanders, the 

 Wilson's Thrush (Tin-dus fnsrescens) in in all 

 probability one of the most common birds 

 breeding in their locality. 



But this is not so in Pennsylvania, for 

 although the bird is a transient visitor in this 

 State it seldom remains to breed. 



On the '2Qt\\ of .July, 1889, while on a picnic 

 at Lloyds ville, (Jambria Co., Pa., and not 

 having anything to do, I wandered up the 

 mountain to pick whortleberries. Just as I 

 reached the summit, a bird of the thrush 

 family started up in front of me, and quickly 

 disappeared in the brush-wood. On gt)ing to 

 the spot she had left I found a nest and three 

 eggs. Not deeming identification C()mi)Iete I 

 marked the spot, and on returning about half 

 an hour later I again Hushed tlie bird, getting 

 a better view of her; her tawny color, together 

 with the position and composition of the nest, 

 furnishing identification. As I did not expect 

 to be in the locality again I took the set, 

 though j)robably inconii)lete, together witji 

 the nest. 



The latter was placed a few inches above the 

 level of tlic ground, presumably on the remains 

 of an old decayed stump; but whatever it was, 

 it was SI) covered vvitli decayed leaves that it 

 was difficult to tell what the original founda- 

 tion had been. 



The nest was compctsed of dried grass, root- 

 lets, dead leaves and a shi'cd-like bark, 

 probably that of the grape-vine. There was 

 no lining whatever, except that in the inside 

 the rootlets predominated slightly. 



The eggs, as mentioned before, were three 



