40 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 12-:N'o. 3 



THE 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



AND 



OOLOGIST. 



A MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



ESPECIALLY DEVOTED TO THE STUDY OF 



BII^ 33 S , 



THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 



DESIGNED AS A MEANS FOR THK INTERCHANGE OF NOTES AND 

 OBSERVATIONS ON BIRD AND INSECT LIFK. 



F. H. CARPENTER, Managing Editor. 



REHOBOTH, MASS. 



J. PAEKER NORKIS, Odlogie:il Editor, 

 204 South Seventh Street, Philadklphia, Penn 



FRANK B. WEBSTER, Publisher. 

 409 Washington St., Boston, Mass. 



Editorial. 



By private advices, and also by refer- 

 ence to the Colorado newspapers, we ob- 

 serve that the Coloi-ado Ornithological As- 

 sociation is in course of organization. The 

 results which it is possible to achieve by 

 such an association, are very great, and it 

 should receive the intelligent suppoit and 

 co-operation of every ornithologist in the 

 state. The principal leader of the move- 

 ment is Mr. Charles F. Monison, who is 

 well known to our readers. We are aware 

 that his successful plan, will not be assist- 

 ed by any enconium at this late hour, yet 

 recognizing in such endeavors a great ad- 

 vance of our science, we hasten to add our 

 mite, by endorsing Mr. Morrison and his 

 associates. 



We welcome amongst our exchanges The 

 Audubon Magazine published by the Forest 

 and Stream Publishing Co., of New York. 

 As an efficient aid to the cause of bird pro- 

 tection, the Magazine seems to be doing 

 good work. However we are reminded 

 very forcibly of the oft repeated incidents 

 of a house cat being foster mother to orphan 



rabbits, which we have read in the columns 

 of the Forest and Steam. That the weekly 

 issue of the Forest and Stream, in which 

 the pages, both reading and advertising, 

 are tilled with accounts of slaughter, and 

 instruments with which to pursue the "man- 

 ly pastime" it advocates, should be varied 

 with a monthly journal which goes to an 

 extreme in protection, presents an appear- 

 ance as much out of harmony as the associa- 

 tion of Felis and Lepus. 



City Singers. 



BY J. M. W., NORWICH, CONN. 



How long is a bird's daj^? On the morning of 

 June IS, 1885, birds began to sing at three 

 o'clock, and the last note of the Robin's vesper 

 hymn died away at eight p. m., exactly. The 

 orchestra began tuning their instruments at 3.15 

 a. m., June 12th and 14th, 1885, and at 7.45 p. 

 m., a few soloists had not ended. By such rec- 

 ords in my note book for the last part of May 

 and the first part of June, we find that a 

 bird's day in the height of the season averages 

 about sixteen hours. No advocates are they 

 then for an eight hour law. There is no record 

 of a strike among the bird unions, such as the 

 platform-builders, the mason-birds, the weav- 

 ers, carpenters (woodpeckers,) plasterers and / 

 basket-makers ("Basket-bird" — schoolboy's / 

 name for the Red-eyed Vireo.) 



Who will explain fully and simply the pur- 

 pose of the general chorus at dawn? It is not 

 in the countr}^ proper it is best heard ; but in a 

 well shaded city of 20,000 people, the noise of 

 the morning overture is something tremendous. 

 There are thousands of people — and bird-lovers 

 too — who have never listened to it. Let these 

 late risers get up on a still mild June morning 

 at three o'clock and soon note something sur- 

 prising. The piccolo of the Kingbird gives a 

 few short reveille notes before the earliest Rob- 

 in. Ill ten minutes hundreds of Robins have 

 joined issue, Chebecs and Pewees are a tie for 

 second place, while scores of Orioles and Wood 

 Thrushes, and no lack of Tanagers now fill up 

 such a volume of sound that ordinary conver- 

 sation cannot be heard. This wonderful out- 

 burst is over in twenty minutes or so, and, af- 

 tei- five o'clock, we only have the individual or 

 solo singing to rivals or mates, and reveling at 

 food and play. 



