THE OOLOGIST 



233 



was slowly moving up across the field, 

 on every side, beseiged by crows, 

 which attacted the fox most vigorously 

 from all directions. How the affair 

 ended, whether the fox escaped from 

 his feathered enemies, or succumbed in 

 the struggle for existence, I do not 

 know, as the party who informed me 

 was not sufficiently interested to follow 

 up and witness the end of the scene. 



It is a wellknown fact that crows 

 frequently destroy young chickens, and 

 the eggs of both the domestic fowl and 

 Avild birds, and I have known them to 

 attact larger animals, but I think their 

 making war on foxes is something new. 

 W'.E. Rotzell, M. D., 

 Norberth. Pa. 



A Few Field Notes. 



May 20, 1893.— The Green Heron is 

 not a rare bird in this neighborhood. 

 While hunting for their eggs today, I 

 was successful enough to find two nests, 

 one containing eggs, and the other 

 young birds. The two nests were very 

 roughly made of sticks. They were 

 both situated in a small plum thicket, 

 about two yards from each other. I 

 climbed up to one and found three eggs 

 in the nest, and, looking across from 

 the tree in which I was in, into the 

 other nest, I saw that it contained three 

 young birds about two days old. These 

 two nests had evidently been visited 

 before I reached them, for this bird 

 rarely ever lays less than five eggs. 



May 21. [ was successful enough to 

 find a nest of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo. 

 This bird is gradually becoming scarcer 

 in this neighborhood. The nest was 

 built without much material and con- 

 tained two fresh eggs. It was situated 

 in a beech tree about fifteen feet 

 froni the ground. Going on a little 

 further through the grove of beech 

 trees, I find a nest of the Baltimore 

 Oriole high up in a sugar maple. This 

 nest containedj four -eggs partly incu- 



bated. This bird is not as common as 

 its cousin, the Orchard Oriole. 



May 22. To-day I went out and found 

 about two dozen Mocking-bird, Cat- 

 bird and Brown Thrush's nests. Going 

 homeward I found a set of four of the 

 Wilson's Thrush, incubation about two 

 thirds. This bird is becoming rare 

 here. 



May 23. Found two nests of 

 the American Crow. One nest con- 

 tained a set of five eggs, badly incubat- 

 ed. The other nest contained four 

 fresh eggs. One nest was placed in a 

 tall maple about thirty-five feet from 

 the gi'ound. The other was in a cedar 

 about twenty feet from the ground. 

 The nest in the maple was almost twice 

 as large as the one in the cedar. 



May 24. Climbed a dead oak 

 and was rewarded by getting a fine set 

 of the Turkey Vulture. This brrd is 

 very common here, but it is very hard 

 to find its eggs. The two eggs that I 

 found were placed in a slight indenta- 

 tion of a large limb. The eggs were 

 beautifully marked and were fresh. 



May 25. Secured a fine set of 

 two of the Red-tailed Hawk. The nest 

 was placed in the top of a very large 

 oak. It was about one hundred and 

 fifteen feet from the ground. The nest 

 was of an enormous size. It was very 

 rough on the outside, but as usual, 

 smooth on the inside, and had a few 

 oak leaves in it. One of the eggs was 

 so heavily blotched that the ground color 

 could hardly be seen, and the egg itself 

 would hardly be recognized as a Red- 

 tail's, while the other egg hardly had a 

 speck on it. 



May 26. Found two nests of the 

 Field Sparrow to-day. This bird is 

 common here as it is almost every- 

 where. One nest had young ones in it, 

 while the other had only one egg. Go- 

 ing into an oi chard, I found five nests 

 of the Orchard Oriole. I took two 

 plainly marked sets of four eggs each. 

 In a half dead willow I found a fresh 



