THE OOLOGIST. 



85 



case, adjusted some part of the har- 

 ness, and later started on a new 

 round. When he was near, of course 

 I wouki regulate my actions to con- 

 vey the least idea of lunacy, and 

 would frequently sit down and rest 

 while he was doing the same thing. 

 At length the search led me across the 

 fence into another field, and I felt 

 somewhat relieved, for I hoped he 

 might have no jurisdiction there. I 

 had been killing time, hoping that 

 his day's work would end and he 

 would leave the field before I found 

 the nest. From the actions of the 

 male, which had now been joined by 

 several screaming neighbors I knew 

 I was near the nest. Ah, glancing 

 eagerly ahead, I spied the female, 

 fiattened close to the ground as us- 

 ual, about twenty-five feet ahead of 

 me. But look — the native had just 

 finished his last round, and leaving 

 horses and plow standing, he came 

 striding determinedly toward me, 

 grimly ready to solve the mystery 

 which had been troubling him all the 

 afternoon. I quietly backed away 

 from the sitting bird, so that an over- 

 loud altercation might not startle her 

 from her eggs, and went calmly for 

 ward to meet the issue. 



"Have you lost anything?" inquired 

 the stranger doubtfully, not yet cer 

 ■ tain that he wasn't dealing with an 

 escaped lunatic. 



"Oh, no, I haven't lost anything." 

 I replied, glancing to see that his 

 abrupt intrusion had not startled the 

 Curlew from her nest, though the air 

 was full of soaring, cackling males. 



"I thought you was looking for 

 something by the way you acted," he 

 explained. 



"I was looking for ova of Numen- 

 ius longirostries," I said by way of in- 

 formation. 



"Lookin' for what?" he inquired 

 rather blankly. 



"I was looking for ova of Numenius 

 longirostris, which are sometimes, 

 found out on the prairie at this sea- 

 son." 



"And what kind of things are 

 them?" 



"Oh, they are quite ovate in form, 

 comparatively capacious in volume, 

 showing washed virid or umber hues, 

 and generally associated in a cluster 

 of four." 



"What do you do with them when 

 you find them," he managed to ask. 



"Well, I evacuate the interior capa- 

 city by pneumatic pressure, leaving 

 the exterior covering intact for indefi- 

 nite preservation." 



The stranger looked at me doubious- 

 ly a moment, then slowly turned and 

 walked hesitatingly toward his team. 

 Soon I had the pleasure of seeing 

 him disappear over the knoll, and I 

 made haste to gather in the ova of 

 Numenius longirostris. 



AMERICAN GOSHAWK NESTING IN 

 PENNSYLVANIA. 



In bygone days when the wild pi- 

 geons nested in countless numbers in 

 this region, the Goshawk was a reg- 

 ular breeder according to all reports, 

 and preyed almost entirely on the 

 pigeons. 



But when the pigeon became a thing 

 of the past, the Goshawk became 

 known only as a winter visitor. 



As the pigeon has become nearly 

 extinct in my day (I have only killed 

 one; that one a fine spring male now 

 in my collection, and have not seen 

 one since 1893), I did not suppose the 

 Goshawk still lingered in summer. 



May 25, 1906, in Clearfield County, 

 while looking for Ravens in an im- 

 mense tract of virgin forest owned by 

 the Goodyear Lumber Company, and 

 now the scene of extensive lumbering 

 operations, I came upon a Goshawk 



