THE OOLOGIST. 



63 



Am sorry there is not space to de- 

 scribe the trip and specimens more 

 elaborately, but it is not compatible, so 

 I have given this form of description to 

 our little trip feeling that many will be 

 interested in a yacht trip for specimens 

 in Florida. Piccs. 



An Imitation that Imitates. 



THE REDSTART READILY STARTLED. 



[Patent applied for. All rights reserved,] 



One of the things which an ornithol- 

 ogist often desires to do and which 

 prove.1 as difficult as anything he may 

 attempt, is to reproduce, with any de- 

 gree of similarity at all to the original 

 sounds, the songs of our feathered 

 friends. Nothing puzzles ornithologi- 

 cal writers more than to coin such 

 wordings and phrasings and arrange 

 such intonations and accentations as 

 shall serve to represent and describe 

 eomewhei'e nearly, the songs of the 

 birds they may be treating. 



It is difficult business as all will agree 

 but the writer desires to state that in 

 so far as the song of the American Red- 

 start {Setoj)hoga rulicilla) is concerned, 

 he has secured a corner on the market 

 and is prepared to furnish on short no- 

 tice, Redstart songs of his own manu- 

 facture at so much per song. Said 

 manufactured Redstart songs are guar- 

 anteed to be as good as theioriginal 

 and in no wise distinguishable from the 

 real thing; in fact I may add that so 

 perfect is- my reproduction that I have 

 actually deceived, many times, the 

 Redstarts themselves. 



While, as I say, this invention of 

 mine is patented and all rights to it are 

 vested in myself only, the editor of the 

 OoMOGiST has finally, after much nego- 

 tiating, prevailed upon me to lease to 

 him (at an exorbitant price) the right 

 to tell "the boys" about it through his 

 paper. 



So listen! Take two of the small 

 roofing tins commonly used by roofers 



in attaching felt or paper rooting. 

 Place them with their concave surfaces 

 together and putting them thus in your 

 mouth between-your teeth and lips, tin- 

 whistle fashion, blow through the cen- 

 tral hole alternately with an inhaling 

 and^exhaling breath, beginning with an 

 inhaling whistle and ending with an ex- 

 halation,— four of each. Blow gently, 

 not loud-ly. 



This I have found to be a remarkably 

 exact imitation of the Redstart's song, 

 so much so that on a recent occasion, 

 by repeating it at intervals, I led a fe- 

 male Redstart clear through a sizable 

 piece of woodland, she answering all 

 the time; and then returning, I made 

 her follow me all the way back through 

 the woods again. Try it. If you are 

 not convinced and if you do not find it 

 an entirely correct representation of 

 the song, your money will be refunded. 

 Neil F. Posson, 

 Medina, N. Y. 



Two-storied Nest of Phoebe. 



May G, 1888, I found a nest of Phoebe 

 under the overhanging bank of a creek, 

 which contained three eggs of the 

 Phffibe and two of Cowbird. I took 

 the Cowbirds and left the others. 



May 13 while passing by the nest in 

 my boat I noticed the Pha^be fly to the 

 nest. I went to it, put my hand in and 

 it appeared to be empty but I felt 

 something break and on removing the 

 lining I found the three Pha>be's eggs 

 broken. They had been entirely cov- 

 ered over. 



Query:— Why did she cover her own 

 eggs? Verdi Blrtch. 



Penn Yan, N. Y. 



