THE OOLOGIST. 



231 



days, he died — evidently for want of 

 food — as the Cowbird, being larger, 

 greedily devoured everything that came 

 in contact with his copacious mouth. 

 The untimely end of the rightful heir 

 was but gain to this usurper, as he now 

 received the whole attention of the 

 parent birds. Nature having now, at 

 the early age of seven days, provided 

 him with a respectable dress, he was no 

 louger contented to remain within the 

 small comoass which the nest furnished; 

 whereupon he betook himself to the 

 branches of the tree in which the nest 

 had been placed. But soon this area 

 became too limited for his ambitious 

 spirit; for at the end of his second week 

 he was flitting from bush to bush, ex 

 ploring the fields and hedges, his par- 

 ents providing for him all the while. 

 Two weeks more and be was a full 

 fledged bird. About July 20th I saw him 

 for the last time. He was ensconced 

 in the foliage of an orchard tree, chirp- 

 ing defiantly, and assuming all the air 

 and dignitiy of a king's son. His par- 

 ents were still administering to his 

 wants, and following at his command. 

 Thus in less than six weeks a fragile 

 egg had developed into a worthless 

 paasite. M. A. White, 



Mathews, C. H., Va. 



Black Tern. 



Did you ever hunt for Black Tern eggs ? 

 These birds/ are very numerous in 

 the Calumet Lake region, but the ter- 

 ritory in which they nest covers so large 

 an area that it is almost impossible to 

 find the nests in any quantity, unless 

 one has had experience. 



When you first come upon the marsh, 

 a Black Tern is sure to espy you and in 

 a short time, a shrieking, screaming, mob 

 is circling around your head, seemingly 

 frantic in their endeavors to drive you 

 away. The first impulse is to look for 

 the nests, which you feel sure, must be 

 close at hand. But your search is un- 



availing, with the exception, perhaps, 

 of an occasional set. You then observe 

 a number of birds hovering over a spot, 

 perhaps a quarter of a mile distant, and 

 after floundering through the heavy mud 

 of the slough until you're almost ex- 

 hausted, you find that the birds are 

 merely feeding and the water is too 

 deep for nests. 



The flock still follows you, and you 

 still search in vain, but after a time the 

 birds pay you less and less attention un- 

 till finally, only an occasional new ar- 

 rival deigns to notice you and you go 

 away, thinking you are too early for 

 nests, and that next time you will find 

 them bx-eeding abundantly. 



But the terns have outwitted you. 

 When you came to the marsh and they 

 rose to meet you, you should have noted 

 carefully the spot from which some one 

 of them seemed to arise, and then walk- 

 ed to the spot, stooped down, and re- 

 mained perfectly still. Soon you would 

 have noticed a bird, alternately diving 

 at you and at a particular spot near 

 by. Having marked the spot and 

 proceeded toward it without allowiug 

 your eyes to be for an instant withdrawn, 

 you would have discovered, in nine cases 

 out of ten, a small mud bog, scarcely 

 above the water-line, and on it, two or 

 three dark brown pyriform shaped eggs, 

 lying close together in the mud, with 

 perhaps a few bla.les of grass beneath 

 them. You should then crouch again 

 and repeat the operation until you have 

 discovered five or six nests, after which 

 it would be better to move on until an- 

 other colony is started up. Iu this way 

 I have found, in a single day, over a 

 hundred nests. 



A severe rain is very destructive to 

 the terns, for a rise of an inch in the 

 water will drown out two-thirds of the 

 nests. It is a wise provision of Provi- 

 dence which has made the incubation 

 period short, and enables the downy 

 youngsters to swim as soon as they roll 

 out of the egg. W. E. Pratt. 



Lake Forest, Ills. 



