58 



THE OOLOGIST. 



patch, of course, wanting-, the entire 

 upper parts being uniformly black from 

 the bill. 



The specimen exhibits the following 

 measurement: Length, 9.35: wing, 5; 

 tail, 3; bill, 1.12; tarsus, about .75. It 

 was on February 23d this bird was tak- 

 en. In the days immediately following 

 a sudden cold snap with snow and zero 

 weather followed. Evidently this bird 

 moved southward just in advance of 

 the cold wave. 



And so it is that our little county of 

 Orleans claims record for the only two 

 occurrences, so far as known, of this 

 rare Woodpecker in Western New 

 York. If there are other occurrences, 

 I have been unable by perusing all the 

 ornithological publications of the coun- 

 try for several years back, to find any 

 record of them. 



When shall we begin to say that there 

 is nothing left to learn about birds, or 

 that the chances are small for securing 

 anything rare any more; or that winter 

 has no advantages? Indeed the winter 

 offers great opportunities to the stu- 

 dent of birds. Only last week {March 

 8th) when the landscape was every- 

 where covered with a thick mantle of 

 white a company sf six White- winged 

 Crossbills [Loxia leucoptera) visited the 

 pine trees in the door yard next adjoin- 

 ing my own, feeding upon the cones. 

 Males they were in bright plumage, 

 and very interesting because very rare. 



Such occurrences as these make the 

 enthusiastic bird-lover to exclaim in the 

 words of the poet: 



"Winter! I love thee- 



All unlovely as thou seem'st 



And dreaded as thou art." 



The Nesting- of tlie Ruffed Grouse 

 Within City Limits. 



In the early spring of '98 it was my 

 good fortune to discover a nest of the 

 Ruflfed Grouse. On May 8th. I was 

 walking through a small patch of woods 



looking for crows' nests. I happened 

 to look under a small pine tree by the 

 side of the path and much to my sur- 

 prise I saw a female Ruffed Grouse sit- 

 ting there. Her plumage blended so 

 perfectly with the dead leaves that it 

 was purely by chance that I noticed her. 

 She evidently thought her disguise was 

 perfect as she did not move a feather. 

 I stood looking at her for fully three 

 minutes until my curiosity got the bet- 

 ter of me. Kneeling down beside her 

 I gently touched her tail feathers and 

 ofE she went like a shot. I was interes- 

 ted to note that as she did so she brush- 

 ed some dead leaves over the eggs with 

 her wings and feet. So successfully was 

 this done that the eggs were almost 

 wholly covered. Carefully picking the 

 leaves off I was delighted to find a set 

 of eleven eggs. These afterwards prov- 

 ed to be very slightly incubated. After 

 the female had been flushed from the 

 nest, I did not again catch a glimpse of 

 her. The eggs were laid in a slight hol- 

 low in the ground lined with dead 

 leaves and a few feathers. It was inter- 

 esting to note that this nest was within 

 50 yards of a road ana within a few 

 yards of the boundary line marking the 

 limits of the city of Boston. 



Abbot Peterson, 

 Jamaica Plain, Boston. 



Least Bitterns Observed in Pennsyl- 

 vania. 



While camping on Ten Mile Creek 

 near Hackeny's Station, Washington 

 Co., Pa., with two friends, I found the 

 Least Bittern in small numbers. On 

 July 5, 1899 we were at the creek, I was 

 for turtles. The other two had gone up 

 a smaller stream. I heard them shoot- 

 ing and when they had returned they 

 presented me a mangled Least Bittern. 

 One shot from a 32 20 Marlin rifle did 

 the work. They had flushed it from 

 the bank of the stream Cin which the 

 water was but a few inches deep) and it 

 had flown about fifty yards and lit on a 



