THE OOLOGIST^! 



51 



eggs discolored or broken, the j'dung 

 dead from exposni'e. The old birds 

 seemed utterly unable to protect their 

 nests from the elements. Self preser- 

 vation compelling them to seek shelter. 

 The nest in this instance was placed but 

 six feet above the ground, hanging be- 

 tween the forks of a dogwood sapling. 

 The female slipped quietly out of her 

 neat and compact little basket and re- 

 fused to go more than a few feet from 

 her treasures, protesting all the while 

 at the top of her little voice. A leaf 

 growifig from near the point where the 

 forks diverge was found drawn across 

 the top of the nest and the apex bound 

 securely to the opposite rim, a twin leaf 

 held down by the former, formed a trap 

 door for entrance or exit. Thus the bird 

 protected her eggs from the dripping 

 world outside, and deserved better 

 treatment than I gave her for I took 

 the nest and four highly incubated eggs. 

 They measure: .71 x .53, .71 x .52, .70 x 

 ,53, .72 X .53. 

 Yellow-throated Vireo, Vireojidvifrons. 

 A rare Summer resident. I secured a 

 set of three eggs on June 11, '85. Nest 

 wholly of grape-vine bark glued togeth- 

 er VI ith silk from spider and caterpillar 

 nests.withoutornamentationof any kind 

 on the exterior. The eggs measure .78 

 x .61, .78 X 60, .78 x .59. What oologist 

 who has been a field collector, 

 has not one or more sets of eggs in his 

 cabinet which seem to reflect certain 

 scenes indelibly impressed upon his 

 mind, and calling up recollections of 

 the circumstances of the find? The 

 picture hei'e reproduced to me is that 

 of a swaying nest from a branch of a 

 white oak, on the southeastern slope of 

 Valley Forge hill, right below the Wash-' 

 ington redoubt and directly over the 

 old camp road. "Mount Joy" it is called 

 (but it must have been anything else 

 than a mount of joy to the poorly clad, 

 half famished baud of patriots of the 

 Continental army, as they paced the 

 bleak and frozen hills or shivered 



around smoky fires during the dismal 

 winter of 1777-8.) This was my first 

 year collecting and my flrst important 

 find. Can you wonder why it possesses 

 so great a value to me now? 



White-eyed Vireo. Vireo novebora- 

 censis. Tolerably common as a migrant 

 and less as a summer resident. I have 

 found it bi'eeding on but one occasion. 

 June 10th '88 I found its nest in a black 

 oak bush, three feet above the ground. 

 The nest is not so neat as the average 

 Red-eye's, but rather baggy, appearing 

 rather bulky for the bird. It was com- 

 posed of flne strips of grape-vine bark, 

 a quantity of pieces of hornets' nests 

 and silk from the caterpillar. It con- 

 tained four eggs of the owner and one 

 of the Cowbird. Measuring .77 x .56, 

 .77 X .56, .77 X .56, .74 x 55. 



Frank L. Burns. 



A Talkative Crow- 



It is related that one of the leading 

 men of the Southern States, — I believe 

 General Wade Hampton — had a very 

 talkative Crow. It is said among the 

 manyother things saidof this I'emarkable 

 bird, that one day this Crow decided to 

 pay a visit to a large flock of his black 

 relations, and settling down upon a 

 limb, he very politely exclaimed "How 

 do you do?" The effect of such polite- 

 ness was tremendous as these Crows 

 were not at all used to it, and they fled 

 at once leaving the polite Crow all a- 

 lone. 



Some two years ago I met a Crow 

 that was also a remarkable linguist. 



He was owned by a family by the name 

 of Best, residing southeast of Imlay 

 City, Mich., near the home of the friends 

 I visited. It was vastly amusing to 

 hear this Crow talk. One day two 

 wood-choppers called at my friends 

 while Mr. Crow was lattling off a great 

 string of words, varying the lingo by 

 pi'olonged fits of laughter. This rather 

 disconnected talk attracted the attention 



