THE YOUNG ORNITHOLOGIST. 



having a little patience they can be 

 taught to eat out of one's hand. 

 Their nest is usually placed in a 

 hole in a dead limb or stump ; an apple 

 or pine tree seems to be their favorite 

 nesting plaee. Their nest is very 

 thick, and soft, lined inside with fea- 

 thers. They generally lay from six to 

 nine eggs, they are very pretty, ground 

 color white, thickly spotted with fine 

 reddish-brown spots somewhat thicker 

 at the larger end. Their eggs may be 

 looked for as soon as the first week in 

 May. 



C. W. Swallow, Tyngsboro, Mass. 



THE CAT BIRD. 



In the pleasant month of May, 

 comes to me one of the dearest birds 

 of summer, the cat bird, with its lovely 

 modest coat of drab and black. Some 

 writer has called its dress aristocratic, 

 and I know of no word that can 

 better describe it. A pair built their 

 nest in a large lilac bush at the south- 

 west corner of the house, and seemed 

 quite tame. While the lilacs were 

 in blossom, filling the air with fra- 

 grance, the female sat upon her 

 eggs ; and every evening at sunset, 

 when the golden sky shone through 

 the leaves, it made a lovely picture, 

 the male bird sitting beside his mate 

 with their little heads turned toward 

 the setting sun, and he singing his 

 evening song. He seemed to imitate al- 

 most every other bird. Some notes were 

 particularly sweet and plantive, per- 

 haps the hour made them seem so to me. 

 After they hatched their young, our cat 

 found the nest and destroyed the little 

 birds. The next year no bird built 

 its nest there, but last spring they 



came again ; we had no cat, and they 

 were very tame, whenever I went to 

 the door and called them they would 

 come from the thick part of the bush 

 and peep out at me. After the 

 young were fledged, they became 

 more tame than before, and would get 

 quite near me upon a jessamine by an 

 open window while I talked to them. 

 They gave me great pleasure, and I am 

 anxiously waiting for them, but fear 

 they will not build near us, as we have 

 now two kittens. 



Marie L. 



THE BLACK AND WHTPE 

 CREEPER. 



( Mniotilta varia . ) 



The Black and White Creepers are 

 quite common here during the summer, 

 and may be easily recognized by their 

 black and white coloring and by their 

 habit of running up and down the 

 trunks of trees after the manner of 

 the Nathutches and true Creepers. 

 They never seem to run down back- 

 ward but always keep the head point- 

 ed in the direction that they are mov- 

 ing. The Black and White Creepers 

 have several notes and a faint but 

 pleasing warble, which they often ut- 

 ter while searching for insects on the 

 trunks of tree, and old logs and 

 stumps. They doubtless destroy a 

 a large number of noxious insects. 

 The nest is built in thick woods, 

 usually on the ground at the foot of 

 a tree or stump. The eggs are nearly 

 elliptical, creamp white, thickly dot- 

 ted with reddish brown intermingled 

 with some faint spots of lilac, some- 



