32 



THE OOLOGIST. 



THEOOLOG1ST 



A Monthly Magazine Devoted to 

 ORNITHOLOGY and OOLOGY. 



FRANK H. LATTIN, ALBION, N. Y. 



EDITOR AND PUBLISHER. 



Correspondence and Items of Interest to the; 

 student of Birds, their Nests and Eggs, soli-ciied 

 from all. 



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HE POST OFFICE > 



AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER. 



A Correction. 



If the observer, who writes from 

 Conn, in January number of the Oolo- 

 gist, had taken a little more pains to 

 inform himself, he never would have 

 made such a random assertion about 

 the Sparrow Hawk as is contained in 

 the latter portion of his article. It 

 does not seem to me to be the part of a 

 true ornithologist to so condemn any 

 bird, without a long series of most care- 

 ful and accurate observations. 



In the works of nearly every ornitho- 

 logical writer, may be found favorable 

 mention of the Sparrow Hawk; and the 

 report for 1887 of the Ornithologist and 

 Mammalogist of the Department of 

 Agriculture furnishes conclusive evi- 

 dence of this little falcon's good qualit- 

 ies. It is there seen from the table of 



stomach contents, that out of 133 stom- 

 achs examined, only 29 contained birds 

 of any kind, while 15 of these contain- 

 ed also small mammals, insects, or 

 larvae. Of the remainder a very large 

 proportion contained small quadrupeds 

 (principally mice) or insects. 



In light of these facts it is safe so as- 

 sume that our friend erred through 

 ignorance rather than an intention to 

 mislead. 



H. C. Oberholser, 

 Wooster, O. 



A Large Set or Series of the Redheaded 

 Woodpecker. 



While looking over some back num- 

 bers of the Oologist, I saw recorded 

 several large sets of the Red-headed 

 Woodpecker. I think that I can beat 

 all previous finds, if thr following ser- 

 ies of eggs, can be considered a set. 



On May 5th, 1890, while collecting 

 eggs in an old orchard, I saw a Red- 

 headed Woodpecker fly out of a hole iu 

 an large apple tree. I climbed up to it- 

 Instead of cutting the hole open in the 

 usual way, I cut a small aperture a lit- 

 tle larger than an egg, near the bottom 

 of the nest, and obtained 5 fresh eggs 

 by means of a bent wire. I plugged 

 the aperture with a piece of wood, 

 thinking that the bird might lay again. 



On May 12th, I chanced to pass the 

 same tree, and thought I would see if 

 any more eggs had been laid. I found 

 that it contained 5 more fresh eggs. I 

 again visited it on May 17th, and got 4 

 eggs. I took 5 more from the same 

 nest on May 25th, and 5 more May 31st,, 

 and 4 more June 4th, 



During a storm, the plug of wood 

 was blown out, and it rained in the 

 nest and the birds deserted it. Three 

 weeks later, to my surprise, I found 

 that the bird had built a new nest in 

 the same tree, and it cantaiued 4 young 

 birds. The entire series of 28 eggs 

 being taken in 31 days. 



C. C. Bacon, Boll, Ky. 



