110 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 15-:N'o. 7 



My Large Set of Buteo lineatus. 



After breakfast I put my traps in the biig^y, 

 Iiitcluul up the horse and started for a drive 

 np the river road. The road for three or four 

 miles is on tlie bank of the ITiulson river, and 

 for a pleasant drive on a summer's day it is 

 unequaied. 



The morning I mention was a cool, wet morn- 

 ing the iirst week in May, ISOO. It had rained 

 the previous evening and the ferns and wild 

 flowers were coming forth and sparkling in the 

 morning sunshine. 



Along the road I noticed several new- 

 arrivals: Warblers, Flycathers, and Catbirds, 

 and the Oriole's whistle came from the trees. 



I drove along for about seven miles, and then 

 noticed a piece of woods about three hundred 

 yards from the road. It looked tempting, so 

 I pulled in close to the fence, jumped out, tied 

 and blanketed the horse. I then changed my 

 shoes for a pair of rubber boots, took my 

 climbers in one hand and my collecting box in 

 the other and started. I reached the woods 

 and foTUul the ground in some ])laces covered 

 with water, and in some places there was 

 about fourteen inches of nice, rich mud. Re- 

 gardless of mud or water I started to examine 

 some of the dead stubs the swamp contained. 

 The iirst find was a pair of Chickadees build- 

 ing a nest in a cavity in a rotten stump four 

 feet from the ground. The next find was a 

 Crow's nest which contained four young and 

 one egg. 



A little further on I came across a Blue- 

 bird's nest in a dead stump in the midst of the 

 swamp, only three and a half feet from the 

 ground. It contained two fresh eggs. I left 

 these, and started along a fallen log when my 

 attention was attracted to a large Hawk com- 

 ing towards me. lie settled in a tree about 

 fifty yards ahead of me, and I identified him 

 as Buteo lineatuH, and made up my mind there 

 was a nest close by. I immediately began to 

 sear(!h for it and soon spied it in an ash tree 

 forty feet up. I sat down and buckled on my 

 climbers and started up, reached the nest and 

 looked over. It contained five eggs. One of 

 them was slightly dented. I rolled them up 

 in cotton and put them in a small bag, brought 

 tlnsin down, put them in my collecting box and 

 started for the wagon. 



Before I reached the place where I had 

 left the horse it began to rain so I put my 

 climbers, collecting box, etc., in the wagon and 

 started for home. When I reached home I cut 

 away the fractured part of the broken egg and 



removed the young bird. The egg would have 

 hatched in a day or two. The incubation was 

 not the same in all the eggs, but they were all 

 pretty well advanced, and I was puzzled 

 to know how I was going to remove 

 the embryos. I was soon struck with an 

 idea. I took the eggs and drilled a hole in 

 each of them and then arranged the spout of 

 a common squirt can on a three quarter-inch 

 garden hose, coupled the hose on a faucet and 

 turned on the water. In this way I forced out 

 all the blood and other matter except the 

 young bird itself. Then I filled the eggs u]) 

 with water and let them stand three days. I 

 thought I would i)ut them on an ant hill so I be- 

 gan to shake out the water when lo! I shook out 

 young bird and all. They smelt pretty bad, but 

 I remedied this by filling them with lime water 

 and letting them stand for twenty-four iiours. 



U. C. (JamphHU. 

 Lansinffbiu'ch, N. Y. 



Records for Massachusetts. 



TiiKCriii.KW Sandimpku AxCriATMAM, Mass. 

 — A $ specimen of the Curlew Sand[)i])er, 

 A. O. U. No. 244, was taken at Chatham, 

 Mass., August 20, ISS!). It was nearly in full 

 plumage. It is now in the collection of Gor- 

 don Plummer, Brookline, Mass.— [£"(?. 



The Rovat, Tkkn at Chatham, Mass. — A 

 $ specimen of the Iloyal Tern A.O.U., No. 0.5, 

 was taken at (Miatham, Mass., July 20, 1SS9. 

 At this writing it is at F. B. Webster's Nat- 

 uralists' Supply Depot. — [Ed. 



The Kin« Eideii at Muskeget, Mass.— A 

 young $ King Eider, A. O. U. No. 102, was 

 killed at Muskeget Island, April 5, 1890. 



Cordon Plumnun- records this specimen as 

 being killed by his i)arty, and is now in his 

 collection. 



[Mr. Plummer has a fine collection of birds, 

 the result of a numl)er of years' collecting. In 

 addition to skins, he has paid particular atten- 

 tion to procuring moiuited specimens of the 

 game birds. They are carefully selected with 

 regard to plumage, and rei)resent the bent work 

 of our eastern taxidermists. Mr. Plummer is 

 a tluirough sportsnuui and knows when a bird 

 is properly mounted. — 7'^/.] 



The Pkothonotauy Wauuleu at Newton, 

 Mass.— On Thursday, -luiui 10, 1800, [ noted 

 a Prothonofary Warbler at Newton, Mass. On 

 the 20th I brought him home.— [F. IT. Ken- 

 nnrd. 



