176 



THE OOLOGIST. 



Houses to Let. 



If any (nie wishes to receive large 

 dividend on a small invc^stment I would 

 advise them to put up a. few bird houses 

 around the house or grouiuls. They 

 will readily tind reliable tenants who 

 will repay all trouble. It will interest 

 any one whetlier oi-nitliologist oi- not, 

 to watch the birds at tlieir mating and 

 nesting. If then^ had been more of 

 these convenienees provided for our 

 native birds there would have l^een no 

 excuse for the importation of that 

 "pesky varmint," the English Sparrow. 

 I believe that all of our lairds that breed 

 in boxes are purely insectivorous, and 

 hence of great value to the farmer, 

 gardener and orchardist. The martin 

 will also ser^'e the poultry keeper a 

 good turn hj driving away depredating 

 crows and hawks. The blue-birds and 

 wrens will give us fine songs besides de- 

 stroying many insects. In the past two 

 years the following birds have visited 

 some bird houses wiiich were put up 

 around the house: Bluebirds, Wrens, 

 English Sparrows, Gt. Crested Fly- 

 catcher and Purple Martins. Now if 

 this reaches you too late for this season, 

 remember it and spend some stormy 

 day next winter in making a few hous- 

 es to let, it is far more profitable than 

 building castles in the air. 



A. B. F., 

 Bennings, D. C. 



A Day on Shelter Island. 



Never reading anything abimt collect- 

 ing in my locality, I will write a smal[ 

 account of my lirst specimens taken 

 this year. On the morning of May 1, 

 1889, I started for the eastern shores of 

 Shelter Island to see how the Kingfish- 

 ers and Ospreys were building. After 

 walking about three miles, 1 saw a new 

 Kingfishers hole in the bank and started 

 up the bank for it, arriving at the top, 

 I measured the length of the hole bv 



thrusting a long stick into it, taking the 

 length also the dir(H'ti<)n, then laying 

 the stick on the top of thi' bank and 

 taking the directions, I l^egan to dig. I 

 was rewarded with a set of four eggs. 

 During m,y walk I met a friend on the 

 same ex])edition as myself. Together 

 that morning, we were rev\'arded with 

 five sets of Belted Kinglisher as follows: 

 1-4, 1-G, 2-r), 2-5, 3-7 also two beautiful 

 sets of American Osprey of three eggs 

 eggs e;ich. On ovu; way honu^, we each 

 collected a set of Bluebird's and Crow's. 

 A. E. Pavne, 



Greenport, L. I. 



A Curious Nesting Place. 



Walking one afternoon, with a friend 

 along a railroad track, he surprised me 

 by saying that in a few feet of me was a 

 Bluebird's nest. As I am alAvays inter- 

 ested in anything of that s(wt. I at 

 once began an earnest liut vain search. 

 At last my companion had to help me 

 out by pointing out the nest securely 

 fastened 'in one of the wheels of a by- 

 standing car! Tlie bird had chosen one 

 of the holes around the axle for a build- 

 ing place and when I found the nest 

 there were alrea<ly two eggs in it. 



R. CM., Columbia, S. C. 



Unusual Occurences. 



Have anj^ of the readers of the 

 OoLOGlST ever found a set of 

 Mourning Dove containing three 

 eggsV I fomid a set of thi'ce placed 

 in a frail nest in an evergreen tree. 

 One egg was the usual size, and the 

 other two were some what smaller. 

 This is the first time that I know of that 

 three eggs were found. Prehaps some 

 of tiie readers of the OoLOGlsx have also 

 had a find of the sami' kind. Also found 

 a set of Robins', with two pure wliite 

 eggs and two tlie usual color. 



W. (■. Hutchinson, 

 Winchester, His. 



