November, 1881.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



69 



the past two seasons. The most indifferent 

 people would stop and listen to him. 



The school boyswould stop and try hard 

 to imitate him, and some with good success. 

 One bright little girl said to another, " I 

 know what he says" "Why, what is ic ?" 

 " I've lost my pencil at school; I've lost 

 my pencil at school." "Yes, but there is 

 something else," the other one replied. 

 "Oh, yes, I know: 'Teacher, I've lost my 

 pencil at school; teacher, I've lost my pen- 

 cil at school.'" And that perfectly de- 

 scribes his leading note when properly sung. 

 He shed his feathers during July and Au- 

 gust, 1880, when his song ceased until the 

 spring of 1881. He again moulted in No- 

 vember and December, 1880, and com- 

 menced to sirg on January ist, 1881, gain- 

 ing in volume until the arrival of his kin- 

 dred in the spring, when his song was in- 

 cessant, and had it not been so tuU of sweet- 

 ness would have been unbearable As it 

 was, hardly a person passed the house that 

 did not stop, and very many made bold to 

 introduce themselves to inquire about that 

 wonderful bird. And yet it was but a 

 Rose-breasted Grosbeak, a native of our 

 New England woods. 



This summer Jack moulted in June and 

 July, and continued to sing until the pres- 

 ent time, October 2d, but his full, sweet 

 notes are only sung during the breeding 

 season. At other times he occasionally 

 breaks out in full song, but more fre- 

 quently imitates the C'anary or Indigo birds. 



He will answer at any hour of the night 

 if spoken to by the lady who cares for him. 

 He will play hide and seek with her as well 

 as a school girl could. When the first fruits 

 of the season are given him it is laughable 

 to see his rediculous antics. If we were 

 capable of describing Jack's life history, our 

 readers would hardly credit it. But then we 

 must remember that no baby was ever bet- 

 ter cared for than Jack. He gets a little of 

 everything, and no human being could bet- 

 ter know when griddle cakes are being pre- 

 pared than does Jack, and for three years 

 he has never been forgotten. 



Osprey Eagle— Inland. 



During the month of September the Os- 

 prey seems. to entirely desert its breeding 

 haunts and ascends the various rivers, even 

 to their head waters, where the streams 

 arc both narrow and shallow, and here also 

 they seem to pursue a different method of 

 securing their prey. Mr. Freeman, agent 

 of the Totoket Cotton Mills, at Occum, 

 Conn., while looking out of an upper win- 

 dow of the mill, observed an Osprey Eagle 

 settle down on the shallow water and with 

 its claws extended, without diving, secure 

 a fish of good s'ze and fly over the meadow. 

 The fish struggled so hard that the Osprey 

 let it drop, and immediately descended and 

 with extended claws picked 'it up without 

 alighting, and again flying to a great height 

 let it drop, and once more picked it up in 

 the same way. The second time it was 

 picked up the fish ceased to struggle, when 

 the Osprey sailed off to the woods to make 

 a quiet meal off his victim. Mr Freeman 

 had a good view of the bird's movements, 

 and is of the opinion that the fi.sh was a 

 pickerel, and was let drop on the meadow 

 designedly by the Eagle to kill it, as it 

 could plainly be seen to struggle both in 

 the talo'is of the bird, and while on the 

 meadow the first time it was dropped. 

 This is not an isolated case for Mr. Free- 

 man had once before seen an Osprey take 

 a fish in the same way and drop it on the 

 meadow and descend and pick it up in the 

 manner described above. 



Arrivals. — Chas. W. Gunn, Grand Rap- 

 ids, Michigan, reports the arrival at that 

 place of a flnck of Titlarks on October i8th. 

 A Snowy Owl was brought to Mr. Gunn 

 on the same date by Mr. O. Dennis. Mr. 

 Gunn also states that " the earliest previ- 

 ous date of arrival for this Owl, for Kent 

 County, during a period of eight years, is 

 November 5th, 1880." 



The Ornithologist and Oologist is 

 waiting to be taken by about twenty five 

 more subscribers for 1881. 



