54 



THE OOLOGIST. 



The Oowbird. 



E\cryl)()ily is too well aquainted 

 with tliis meanest of bird kind to need 

 any description of it or, its eggs and 

 so it will not be necessary to describe 

 it. What collector has not seen its 

 eggs in other birds' nestsV In fact it is 

 hard to tind a nest without from one to 

 four eggs of this bird in it. I have seen 

 nests of the Chewink with four Cow- 

 bird's and one of their own eggs in, I 

 also have a nest of the Indigo Hunting 

 in my collection that has a bottom 

 built over a Cowbird's and one of its 

 own eggs, the Indigo laid two more 

 eggs, which were thrown out (probably 

 by the Cowbird) and two of the Cow- 

 bird's eggs laid in the nest. I always 

 hrow out all the Cowbird eggs that It 

 find in nests, while collecting and ad- 

 vise everybody else to do the same. 

 The question is who ever saw a Cow- 

 bird sitting on a nest? If anybody 

 ever did I would like to hear from them 

 through the Oologist. 



R. C. Alexander, 

 Wayne Co, Mich. 



Ruby-crowaed Kinglet. 



This delicate l)it of bird life seeming 

 to know that he is a little more choice 

 than the Golden-crowned, is mol'e 

 chary of his company than the soberer 

 and smaller relative. When, however, 

 he deigns to grace the Uvigs of your 

 orchard with his presence it is a visit 

 worth remembering, especially if perch- 

 ing on the topmost spray, he gives ut- 

 terance to his pleasing warlde. This 

 sounds so loud and sweet that one al- 

 most involuntarily looks around for 

 some larger author than the diminutive 

 musician there al)ove. He is very tame 

 and unsuspicious. He thinks no dcnib^, 



that no one would hurt such a tine fel- 

 low, and will admit of the ch)S('st scrut- 

 iny without alarm. He is a very busy 

 little bird rarely quiet for an instant 

 and always searching fen- food; his 

 movements are spry and he is not 

 averse to anything in tlie insectt line 

 that comes his way, beetles, ants, slugs, 

 b:)rers, all disappear and ever and anon 

 he Hashes from the limb to seize -some 

 luckless fly. 



On the 20th of last July, my brother 

 and I were slowly sauntering along a, 

 road on the island of iVlackinac, headed 

 for "my collecting place." (What col- 

 lector has not a spot that he calls so, in 

 his own mind at least?) when my atten- 

 tion was attracted by a great commo- 

 tion in an evergreen tree near at hand. 

 You may be sure that I lost no time in 

 investigating its cause and, on running 

 to the the spot, I beheld two adult 

 Kinglets busily engaged in coaxing two 

 fully fledged young ones from a nest; 

 three other youngsters were sitting on 

 a limb by the nest, mortally afraid, no 

 doubt, of a fall. I secured two of the 

 young and climbed the tree to look at 

 the nest; this was constructed on top of 

 the "fan" at the end of the branch. It 

 was a very bulky structure, a great 

 deal longer than broad, composed of 

 pine needles and moss, lined with grass 

 and down. It Avas so loosely construct- 

 ed that a few blows of the hatchet on 

 the limb were sufficient to send the nest 

 to irredeemable smash. The identity 

 of the parents was nearly perfect. I 

 did not wish to shoot them, so content- 

 ed mj^self with the very good view (jf- 

 fered when climbing the tree. 



Stewart E. White, 



Kent Co., Mich. 



The Cactus "Wren. 



The Cactus Wren breeds abundantly 

 in Southern California. They usually 

 nest in colonies. The site selected be- 

 ing a rocky mesa over-grown with cacti 

 and chaiDari'al. The name Cactus 



