208 



THE OOLOGIST. 



A Mechanical Egg- Drill Improved. 



Seeing a recent article in tlie OoLo- 

 GIST, how to make a mechanical (v^-g' 

 drill, I Avill tell my Oological friends 

 about my drilling apparatus, which I 

 like much better than the one elescribed 

 in July OoLOGiST by Fred W. Stack. 



First, I got a fifty cigar box and-then 

 I made two wheels, one larger than the 

 other. The larger one measured 34^ in. 

 diameter and for the smaller one, I used 

 a No. 40 Clark's cotton spool. 



Having gotten my wheels in shape, 

 I i>roceeded to make s])indles for them 

 to work on. The larger Avheel's sindle 

 should project out on the side that the 

 box opens on, and fixed for a crank to 

 work on, by means of which the ilrill 

 is to be put in motion. For the small- 

 er wheel's spindle I got a reed that the 

 drill I wanted to use would fit in the 

 hollow nicely — not to tight. I then 

 fastened each wheel on its respective 

 spindle. Then I got a piece of wood 

 an inch wide, quarter of an inch thick 

 and long enough to fit in the box length- 

 wise,, and made two holes in it large 

 enough for the spindles to work in 

 loosely and in such a position that 

 neither wheel would touch the ends or 

 sides of the box in running. I also 

 made two corresponding holes in the 

 bottom of the b<jx. The spindle of the 

 smaller Mheel must be long enough and 

 so arranged that the drill can be put in 

 position for drilling from tlie b(jttom. 

 I forgot t(j say that J cut a groove 

 around tlie larger wheel for a band to 

 work on. 



Having evei'y thing adjusted in their 

 projKr places with a band on the wheels 

 (For a band I used a ])iece of twine.) I 

 fastened the piece of wood in its place 

 with some small tacks. T then made a 

 crank and fixed it on so that it could be 

 removed to let the box shut. 



If everything is well adjusted one can 

 drill eggs as if by magic. 



All I have to do when I want to drill 



eggs, is to open my box, adjust the 

 crank and drill, place the box on one of 

 its sides (not bottom, t<;p nor ends) and 

 fasten it with a small tack to hold it 

 steady, and then I am ready I'm- work. 

 J. W. P. S:mithwick, 

 Sans Souci, N . C. 



Birds Moving their Eggs. 



The September numl)er of your valu- 

 able little monthly just received, and in 

 perusing its contents, 1 noticed a querj' 

 as to what l^ecame of a certain set of 

 Vireo's eggs which mysteriously disap- 

 peai'ed from the nest and were replaced 

 by a Cowbird's egg. My theoi-y is that 

 the Cowbird I'einoved them before de- 

 positing her own. I'he gi'ound for this 

 belief is based ujjon a tenanted nest of 

 the Red-ej'cd Vireo found by me this 

 year. It Avas a beautiful little cup- 

 shaped structure suspended from the 

 fork of a small dogwood tree, and when 

 found contained one egg. Visiting the 

 nest five da.ys later, three nnu'e eggs 

 had been laid, this making a set of foiir 

 which I did not take, as my cabinet 

 already abounded in eggs of this spe- 

 cies. Collecting in the same swamp, 

 the following Sunday, 1 peeked into the 

 nest and to my surprise, found two of 

 the Vireo's eggs gone, and their re- 

 spective' places occui.>ied by a joair of 

 ugly cowbird's eggs, both of which, I 

 destroyed. I searched the ground in 

 the vicinity thoroughly for the missing- 

 eggs, and at last found one abcnit :^(} 

 feet from the nest. It was perfect with 

 the exception of a hole in the side as 

 though the shell had Ijeen punctured l)y 

 the 1)111 of some bird and the contents 

 eaten out. Sometime alter this visit, I 

 chanced to pass that way, and curiosity 

 prompted me to pull down the limb and 

 look into the nest; here a second sur- 

 prise awaited me, for the nest containid 

 I'oxn- eggs of the cowi)ird and one little 

 cowbird just struggling into existence. 



In regard to birds carrying eggs from 



