THE OOLOGIST. 



89 



It is one of the most difficult small 

 "birds to collect that I know of. They 

 are great skulkers, I have often fol- 

 lowed them guided by their chirping in 

 the grass, until I >vas sure the bird 

 was not more than a few 

 yards away, then he would suddenly 

 '•crowd on all sail" and dart away at a 

 high rate of speed, g3 T rating from side 

 to side in a manner that would test the 

 skill of any collector. 



On June 18th Mr. W. Raine, then my 

 companion at Reaburn, discovered a 

 small nest containing five small, speck- 

 led eggs, which we felt sure were the 

 egsjs of the Leconte's Sparrow as the 

 birds were in the vicinity all the time, 

 the locality was carefully noted and we 

 visited it four or five times a day. On 

 the morning of the 21st upon wakening 

 we found it raining, but in a short time 

 we were cautiously approaching the 

 ne3t, when within a few yards the bird 

 flushed and by a lucky shot I knocked 

 it over and in another moment I had in 

 my hand the parent bird, Leconte's 

 Sparrow. 



On the 19th while walking over the 

 prairie we almost tramped upon a 

 small bird as it fluttered from under 

 our feet and a short search revealed a 

 nest containing four young birds and 

 an addled egg, the egg corresponded 

 exactly with the others, the nest also 

 was identical and the glimpse we had 

 of the bird made it doubtless that »it 

 was another nest of Leconte's Sparrow. 



The nests wer 3 . composed of fine 

 grass, cup-shaped and deep, carefully 

 concealed in the centre of a thick tuft 

 of grass. The eggs are greenish white 

 ground color, thickly speckled with 

 pale ashy-brown and the average size 

 is .65x.50. 



G. F. Dippie, 

 Toronto, Canada. 



To-day you should either renew, sub- 

 scribe or send in a new subscriber to 

 the Oologist for '94. 



SCENES FROM THE LIFE OF ALEXANDER 

 WILSON. 



His Second Southern Tour. 



G. Vrooman Smith 



IX. 



Only two hundred copies of the first 

 volume of the American Ornithology 

 had been printed in the first edition. 

 The very gratifying success of his re- 

 cent northern and southern subscrip- 

 tion tours seemed to w arrant an addit- 

 ional three hundred copies. While the 

 new edition was in press, Wilson assid- 

 uously directed his attention to the prep- 

 aration of the second volume, which 

 was completed and ready for the print- 

 er in August, but owing to delay it did 

 not appear till five months later, in 

 January, 1810. An enormous out-lay ' 

 had been necessary in order to perfect, 

 the plates, and in meeting this expense 

 Wilson became involved in difficulties 

 of which he never imagined. There- 

 fore before the work on the plates and 

 text of the third volume could begin it 

 was necessary for him to undertake a 

 third tour in search of subscribers and 

 to collect information. Asecond south- 

 ern pilgrimage was agreed upon, but 

 this time following the courses of the 

 Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to New Or- 

 leans. The ornithologist corresponded 

 with his old fsiend and adviser, Mr. 

 Bartram as to the best means of travel.. 

 In fact Mr. Bartram expected to ac- 

 company him on this expedition, but 

 for some unknown reason (probably 

 however the age of his friend would 

 not admit of such a tedious undertak- 

 ing), he was as usual, compelled to pro- 

 ceed alone. The account of this ornith- 

 ological journey ' comes to us through 

 letters written from time to time to his 

 friends in Philadelphia, and particular- 

 ly to his engraver, Mr. Lawson. His 

 first letter is from Pittsburg and bears 

 the date of February 22, 1810. 



