THE OOLUGIST 



Jumping from bog to bog or running 

 the length of some prostrate log we 

 soon reached a tree with half a dozen 

 nests in it and prepared to go up. 



We had a rope ladder that we could 

 put up forty or tifty feet, but as there 

 were no large limbs that would hold us, 

 had to resort to the climbing irons. 



One of the boys soon went up and 

 after working an hour or so secured 

 two good sets of eggs, which he let 

 down in a pail with a string which we 

 measured and found to be ninety feet 

 long. 



We all had good appetites for dinner 

 by the time he reached the ground, 

 which we soon disposed of. The boys 

 botanized a little to rest themselves, 

 then started for another tree contain- 

 ing eight nesls, most of them near the 

 body of the tree. 



The other boy tried his luck this time. 

 Ninety feet above ground, in the top of 

 a swaying tree, with a good stiff breeze 

 blowing is not a very delightful place 

 to work for a landsman. A couple of 

 hours and five more sets were secured, 

 thirty eggs in all. 



We had learnea something from our 

 forenoon's experience, so sent the boy 

 ,a long fish pole with our drinking cup 

 securely tied to one end. With that he 

 could scoop out the eggs from those 

 nests out of reach; even securing a set 

 from a neighboring tree near by. 



The nests were built entirely of twigs, 

 with a slight depression on top for the 

 eggs, and were woven or packed so 

 tight together that they could scarcely 

 be pulled apart, and would fall to the 

 ground without breaking to pieces. 



Some of the nests contained young, 

 and all of the eggs were more or less 

 incubated so that we only succeeded in 

 saving two-thirds of them. Two of the 

 sets contained five eggs each, the rest 

 four. The eggs in the sets of five were 

 decidedly smaller than those of only 

 four. 



But few of the birds kept in sight 



while we were around. Forty nests 

 could be seen at once; but should think 

 there were sixty or seventy in all, on 

 about an acre of ground. 



They visit the little lakes around here 

 during the summer and most any even- 

 ing about sundown can be seen winging^ 

 their way to the southwest, and many a 

 morning on first rising have I seen them 

 fly up from the lake shore but a few 

 rods from the house. 



C. M. Slayton, 

 Grattan, Mich. 



Diagram of a Bird, to Illustrate the 



Terminolog-y of the Plumage 



and Limbs. 



1. Forehead. 



3. Crown. 



3. Nape or occiput. 



4. Lores (space in front of eye). 



5. Supercilium. 



6. Cheeks. 



7. Ear-coverts. 



8. Upper mandible or maxilla. 



9. Lower mandible. 



10. Culmen or upper profile of max- 

 illa. 



11. Commissure or line of junction 

 of the two mandibles. 



13. Rictal bristles or vibrissfe. 



13. Chin. 



14. Throat. 



15. Breast- 



16. Abdomen. 



17. Back. 



18. Rump. 



19. Scapulars. 



80. Primaries (the earlier or outer- 

 most 9 or 10 quills of the wing). 



81. Secondaries (wing-quilis spring- 

 ing from the radius and ulna.) 



33. Tertiaries. 



83. Lesser wing-coverts. 



34. Median wing-coverts. 



35. Greater wing-coverts. 



26. Primary wing-coverts. 



27. Winglet or bastard-wing. 



28. Upper tail-coverts. 



