THE YOUNG ORNITHOLOGIST. 



all the arts with which Nature has en- 

 dowed it in assiduous endeavors to 



protect them. 



W. L. K. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



J. F., Newton, Mass., says, "One 

 clay last spring we heard a rustling 

 noise in the stove in the parlor_ in 

 which we have had no fire for several 

 days. We opened the door and out 

 into the room flew a Bluebird, and on 

 our opening a window it rushed out, 

 doubtless glad to regain its liberty. 



F. F. S., De Moines, la., "What is 

 the correct name for the bird called 

 Flicker?" 



Yellow- shafted Flicker (Colaptes 

 cmratns) is the general title, but it 

 has an infinite number of others, over 

 a dozen in all. 



C. R. B , Milwaukee, Wis — Eggs 

 should be marked either with a soft 

 pencil or ink. The former is prefer- 

 able if the eggs are not handled much, 

 otherwise the numbers are liable to 

 rub off. A soft pencil has to be used, 

 as the greater pressure necessarily 

 used with a hard pencil to make the 

 numbers legible, is liable to break the 

 egg- 



R. S., Needham, Mass., informs 

 us that he shot a very large Great 

 Horned Owl at that place on the 12th 

 of last April. 



F. L., Dedha Mass., has found 

 a set of six Blue Jays eggs, which were 

 not spotted nearly so much as usual, 

 and wants to know if eggs are apt to 



have less spots and markings when 

 exceeding the usual number. 



W. H. S., Chicago, Oliver Davie 

 in his Check List, gives the following 

 descriptionof the Loon's eggs : — "Oli- 

 vaceous brown, sometimes olivaceous 

 drab, spotted and blotched with very 

 dark brown ; almost exactly oval, oc- 

 casionally very much lengthened; two, 

 or three ; 3.50 by 2.25. Nests in the 

 neighborhood of large lakes and 

 ponds, on some low island or in mea- 

 dows, where the bird collects a large 

 pile of grasses, sods, and weeds in 

 which it forms a hollow about sixteen 

 inches in diameter, and four or five 

 deep." 



Andrew Nichols, Jr,, Pine Knoll, 

 Mass., writes : — The question is raised 

 as to whether the Red-bellied or the 

 Golden- winged Woodpecker is known 

 by the name of " Sap-sucker." During 

 the winter and spring of 1884 I was 

 living in a small village f Andover, 

 N. H., which is situated about 30 

 miles north-west of Concord. While 

 there my attention was directed to a 

 series of small holes, placed one above 

 another, which completely encircled 

 many of the apple trees of this region. 

 My first impression as to the cause of 

 the holes was, that they might have 

 been the work of insects not very dis- 

 tant relations of the Borers. Upon 

 careful inquiry, I found out, however, 

 that they were the work of birds 

 which were known to the natives of 

 this region as Sap-suckers, which, 

 translated into scientific lore, were 

 found to be a species of Woodpecker 

 known to ornithologists as the iSphrf/- 

 rapUms varivs, or Yellow - bellied 

 Woodpecker. 



