230 



THE OOLOGIST. 



sound of real ])lea.sui-(\* Early in the 

 yeai" the song is nttertHl from tlu'f>-round 

 but as winter wanes aiu! the iiiHuenee 

 of coming spring is felt, the hirtls 1)('- 

 come livelier and mount up into the 

 air, sometimes nearly out of sight, sing- 

 ing for minutes together. 



There is no reeord of tlu'. ni'st of the 

 Horned Lark being found in this eoun- 

 ty, yet it is very apparent that they 

 breed here. It is probal/ie that the 

 nest Avill I)e found in tlie near future, 

 si nee many of our oologists a.re looking 

 especially for it each s])riag. 



W. N.C., 

 Binghamton, N. Y. 



Incidents in Bird Life, 



While taking a shoi't a\ alk (me morn- 

 ing during the lattei- part of March, I 

 noticed a conllict between a roi)in and 

 a flock of cedar-waxwings. 8no"\v still 

 covered the ground and it was very 

 difficult for the robin to obtain insects 

 from the earth, so he had to seek clse- 

 whei-e foi- his food. Tlu' tirst I noticed 

 was the ceilar-waxwings wliich were 

 all on a tree in a pri\-a!(' yai'd. They 

 all seemed to he gi'eatl}' excited, a!id 

 were looking in the direction of a 

 mountain ash whicji had many of last 

 year's lierrics on it. At first I could 

 not discover the cause of th.eir excite- 

 ment, but it soon !)<'came ap])arent 

 when several of them flew towards the 

 mountain ash, for a robin darted out 

 from among the branches, where hi' 

 had been eating berries, and chased 

 them away. He woidd t'y at one and 

 peck at liim and then at another until 

 he was rid of all of them. He would 

 then quietly resume liis meal, I chased 

 the robin away and he flew into a tree 

 on the street. As soon as he was gone 

 the whole flock of waxwings wt-nt for 

 the berries as if they were very hun- 

 gry, but nq sooner had they stall' d to 

 eat than the rol)in chai-ged in among 

 them and the whole flock were obliged 



to retreat l)efore his savage pecks. 

 Jnst then I was called away and when' 

 I retm-ned a few lu/urs later nothing- 

 was to be seen of either the robin or 

 waxwings. 



In the spring of '87 a phffibe built a 

 nesr in an old log house occupicul by a 

 farmer. He Avas away from liome for 

 a few days and when h(.' returned the 

 l-iird had liw nest completed. She had 

 entered the house througli a crack 

 above an i!ii})erfect iitiiiig window. 

 She laid tluce eggs. Whenever any 

 ou',' (Mitei-ed the room she would i]\ 

 a'way Init wouid retrn-n in a few min- 

 utes. As it Vi'as necessary to close the 

 opening above the winchnv, I obtained 

 the eggs ami nest. Tl.e ])ha?be then 

 began to construct a. nest in the cellar 

 of the same house, but being disturlied 

 lure she aitandoned it before it was 

 finished. 



I liavt' noticed tliat whenever the eggs 



of a cat-liird are taken the birds destroy 



the nest ami carrv away some of tlie ma- 



t.M'ial, to coi'.strui't a ne^^■ iu\st, I think. 



(Jus. Rait, 



Milwauki-e, V.'is. 



A Simple Contrivance. 



When collecting eggs it has always 

 bothered me until this summer, to find 

 whether oi' not there were any eggs in 

 a Woodpecker's nest. Of course it is an 

 easy matter to l>reak the hole away 

 enough to see, l)ut if there arc no eggs 

 in the nest, as is often lliecase, it makes 

 one feel a little mean to have destroyed 

 the ])oor bird's nest with lu) return. 

 Tills smmner it was suggested that J 

 try a pi(-ce of looking-glass. I imme- 

 diately pr(;cured a j)iece, one inch ])y 

 two, and found it to be just the thing. 

 By holding it in the top of the hole at 

 the I'ight angle, the eggs could be plain- 

 ly st-eii in the bottom. I tirst tried this 

 scheme on a tlieker's nest, and althougli 

 the hole was quite deep, it reflected 

 enough light to discover seven eggs in 

 the bottom. 



