THE OOLOGIST 



61 



time I show it, egg cranks seem to 

 want to nab it? Ask our friend G. 

 Alan Abbott. 



Isaac E. tiess. 

 Philo, III., Dec. 8, 1912. 



Blue Geese. 



Easter Sunday, March 23d, four 

 Blue Geese, evidently young birds of 

 last season's raising, dropjied almost 

 ■exhausted into the flock of wild fowl 

 on our grounds at home, showing 

 every indication of exhaustion and 

 Tjeing exceedingly thin. The white 

 about the heads and faces of these 

 birds is marked with the usual rusty 

 -colored stains produced upon white 

 birds by contact with salt water. 



At this writing, April 4th, they are 

 still with us, and apparently propose 

 to stay, the same as the white-front- 

 ed Goose did in the same manner two 

 years ago this spring, and that is now 

 one of our tamest birds, never having 

 lieen either clipped or pinioned. 



An Odd Bird Box. 



On May 12, I put up a small wind- 

 mill, the wheel of which is nearly six 

 feet in diameter, and has eight arms. 

 The whole wind-mill turns on a pivct 

 in the top of a twelve foot post set in 

 the ground about thirty feet from our 

 dining room windows. 



Just as an experiment I placed a 

 "bird box on the top of the windmill 

 right above the pivot, with the door 

 facing away from the wheel. Of 

 course the direction in which the box 

 faces depends upon the direction in 

 which the wind is blowing. 



On June 1, I examined the box and 

 was surprised to find that it contained 

 the nest of a Crested Flycatcher 

 (Myarchus crinitus) with a set of six 

 eggs which appeared to be badly in- 

 cubated. As usual the nest was com- 

 posed of dry grass, feathers and pieces 

 of cast snake skin. The box has a 

 tin roof, painted on the outside. 



The birds did not seem at all afraid 

 of the wheel, even flying through be- 

 tween the arms when it was in mo- 

 tion. 



On June 9th, I observed the birds 

 carrying food to the nest at short in- 

 tervals, which indicated that the eggs 

 had hatched. 



The Crested Flycatcher is rather un- 

 common in this locality (Hamblen 

 County, Tennessee). This being the 

 second nest I have found. Is is not 

 very unusual for these birds to nest 

 in such a place, especially when the 

 wheel in rotating almost constantly, 

 at times making perhaps seventy-five 

 revolutions per minute and also a good 

 deal of noise? 



J. F. Taylor. 

 Morristown, Tenn. 



The Chewink. 



Pipilo Erythrphthalumus. 



The Chewink is often called Ground 

 Robin, Towhee, Towhee Bunting and 

 Towhee Ground Finch. It is about 8 

 or 8% inches; a little smaller than 

 the Robin. The color of the male is 

 as follows: upper parts are black, 

 breast is white, rump and sides are 

 chestnut, the three outer tail feathers 

 are white and can easily be seen when 

 the bird is flying; the bill is black 

 and heavy, the eyes are red and the 

 feet are brown. The female is brown 

 where the male is black. The color 

 of its breast is a mixture of chestnut 

 and white. 



The Chewink is often taken for a 

 Robin, and why? Because the under- 

 parts are of a reddish color, but by 

 lcol:in<; carefully one will see that the 

 Chewink is smaller than the Robin, 

 and that it is also colored darker. 



Its forms and habits are that of a 

 Finch and not that of a Robin. The 

 sunken nest is on the ground and 

 looks much like the surroundings. One 

 can hardly see it and it often happens 

 that it is stepped on without knowing 



