66 



THE NIDIOLOGIST. 



Like his 3-ounger brother, Col. N. S. 

 Goss — who died a couple of years before 

 him, at Neosho Falls, Kansas, March 10, 

 1 89 1 — he was an equally ardent student of 

 nature and a valued correspondent of the 

 lamented Prof. Spencer F. Baird, contrib- 

 uting much new and valuable information 

 to both our ornithological and oological 

 knowledge, and also many rare specimens 

 to the Smithsonian Institution. Nearly all 

 his leisure hours, especially in later years, 

 were devoted to the study of the nesting 

 habits of our North American birds, and 

 his name will always be a familiar and 

 prominent one in any standard work on 

 this subject. Few naturalists since the 

 days of Audubon, Wilson and Nuttall have 

 done more active and accurate field work 

 than Capt. Goss, who in the course of his 

 investigations visited many then rather 

 out of the way and inaccessible portions of 

 the great West and Southwest, in pursuit 

 of his favorite studies. It was he who first 

 discovered the nest and eggs of our hand- 

 some Prothonotary Warbler and numerous 

 other interesting facts which lack of space 

 prevents me from mentioning. 



Shortly after the termination of the Civil 

 War he began making an oological collec- 

 tion of his own, which I had the pleasure 

 of examing some years ago. I have seen 

 many others, some larger in the number of 

 specimens than his, but none as complete 

 or as carefully and accurately identified. 

 The majority of these were collected by him 

 personally and at the time of his death not 

 less than 721 North America species and 

 sub-species were represented in it. With 

 his well-known generosity he donated this 

 magnificent and valuable collection to the 

 Public Museum of the City of Milwaukee, 

 Wisconsin, where it is well cared for, and 

 will always remain a monument to his 

 public-spirited character. 



The death of Capt. Goss leaves a gap in 

 the ranks of oologists which can never be 

 filled, and this poor and inadequate tribute 

 to his general worth, both as a soldier, 

 naturalist and man, is hesitatingly offered 



by one who knew him well in life, and was 

 proud to be able to call him one of his 

 friends. The photograph from which the 

 reproduction is made was kindly furnished 

 me bv his widow. C. E. B. 



A REMARKABLE NESTING SITE. 



High up in a lofty live-oak tree in San 

 Benito county a Golden Eagle had its 

 aerie, a great mass of heavy sticks, on the 

 crotch formed by two limbs. The structure 

 seemed to me very ancient, with numerous 

 crevices in the side. 



A wandering Sparrow Hawk, looking for 

 a home, found a snug looking hole in one 

 side of this big nest. She fashioned it to a 

 convenient size, and there, on the rough 

 floor, deposited her eggs. It was a nest 

 within a nest, the first that of the greatest 

 and the second that of the least of the 

 Falcons. H. R. Taylor. 



NESTING HABITS OF THE PEWEE. 



"Didymus," in your November number, 

 speaks of the Pewee building in roots of 

 an overturned tree, and says such situa- 

 tions were common in early days. I can 

 say that it is a very common nesting site 

 nowadays in this locality (county of Chau- 

 tauqua, New York). I find that four out 

 of five nests of the Pewee are on the roots 

 of over-turned trees. They seem to think 

 it the proper place for their moss-covered 

 domicile. A. E. Kibbe. 



Mayville, N. V. 



"A HEARTY WELCOME." 



The NiDioi^oGiST, an illustrated monthly maga- 

 zine, devoted to ornithology, is published and 

 edited by Henry Reed Taylor at Alameda, Cal. It 

 is one of the youngest of the numerous aspirants 

 to fame in the field of ornithology, the fourth 

 number bearing the date of December, 1893. The 

 matter and the photoengravings, with which it is 

 liberally illustrated, are of good quality, and, 

 trusting it will maintain its present high standard 

 as a popular magazine of ornithology, we give it a 

 hearty welcome, and wish it the success it thus far 

 so well deserves. Among its contributors we no- 

 tice the names of a number of well-known ornith- 

 ologists. — ^January Au^. 



