Notes from Field and Study 



97 



others, develops a new song late in the 

 season. 



On the third day the bird left her nest 

 with the same precipitation as at the other 

 visits, making it entirely impossible to iden- 

 tify her. I therefore hid myself in the 

 thicket within sight of the nest. After about 

 ten minutes a female Golden-winged War- 

 bler came creeping suspiciously toward me 

 through the branches, uttering low scold 

 notes. Perceiving that I was discovered, I 

 rose to change my hiding-place, and, as I 

 passed the nest, was most grieved to find 

 that the young bird was dead — overcome by 

 the heat of the sun, for the nest was very 

 exposed. (I was careful not to cut away a 

 single leaf in photographing, and therefore, 

 do not feel responsible for the young bird's 

 death.) The female soon deserted her bad 

 egg, and thus was cut short an acquaintance 

 which I had hoped would prove most in- 

 teresting. 



Although I never identified the bird actu- 

 ally at the nest — indeed I have never met 

 a bird so timid — I feel justified in calling 

 the nest that of a Golden-winged Warbler, 

 for the male was always close by, I saw the 

 female, and there were no other birds about 

 to which it could possibly have belonged. 



Later, I collected the nest and the bad 

 egg. The nest, which is of the usual 

 Warbler style, was in a low bramble about 

 four inches from the ground. It is com- 

 posed of grasses with a few dead leaves, the 

 finer material being used as a lining. — 

 C. G. Abbott, New York City. 



A Talking Magpie 



It is of course well known that quite a 

 number of birds outside of the great group 

 of Parrots can be taught to speak a few 

 words with more or less distinctness. Of 

 the relatively short list of such species the 

 Magpie may, perhaps, be said to stand at 

 the top. It is, for instance, not an uncom- 

 mon sight in western towns within the range 

 of the Magpie to see caged specimens that 

 can speak a few words quite plainly, but I 

 have never seen one that could compare, in 

 this respect, with one it was my fortune to 

 observe during the past summer. This 



Magpie was the property of the station agent 

 of the D. & R. G. Railway, a Mr. Martin, 

 at Mancos, Colorado. The bird occupied 

 a large cage, usually kept on the station 

 platform, and was especially 'talkative' at 

 train time, the cage then being the center 

 of an interested group of people. The bird 

 was appropriately named ' Maggie.' The 

 exhibition would start usually in the follow- 

 ing order, each word being uttered with 

 astonishing distinctness, and with perfect 

 human inflection: "Pretty Maggie," "Pretty 

 Maggie;" "Maggie's all right." Then 

 would come the information: "-Martin's a 

 crank," "Martin's a crank," followed by 

 the emphatic statement, "Martin's drunk," 

 "Martin's drunk!" After this burst of con- 

 fidence would come the heartiest, jolliest 

 laugh one could imagine. It was said to be 

 an exact imitation of the laugh of the wife 

 of the agent. And, after the manner of cer- 

 tain traditional Parrots, Maggie had been 

 taught a number of words and short phrases 

 not to be found in polite literature! Al- 

 together it was, it seemed to me, an exhibi- 

 tion of a remarkable character. — F. H. 

 Knowlton, Washington, D. C. 



The Great Auk in Florida 



The daily press has already published 

 some notice of the astonishing discovery by 

 Prof. W. S. Blatchley, State Geologist of 

 Indiana, of a Great Auk's humerus in a 

 shell mound at Ormond, on the east coast 

 of Florida. This bone was identified by 

 Prof. O. P. Hay, of the American Museum 

 of Natural History, after comparison with 

 five Great Auk humeri which were collected 

 by Mr. F. A. Lucas on Funk Island and 

 subsequently presented to the American 

 Museum by the U. S. National Museum. 



The newspaper accounts above referred to 

 attracted the attention of Prof. C. H. Hitch- 

 cock, who chanced to be staying at Ormond, 

 and after communicating with Professor Hay 

 to learn the exact location of the mound Pro- 

 fessor Blatchley had visited, Professor Hitch- 

 cock made further excavations and succeeded 

 in securing additional Great Auk bones. 



The subject will be treated at length by Pro- 

 fessor Hay in ' The Auk' for July.— F.M.C. 



