THE OOLOGIST. 



109 



with blue and unspotted. Our last 

 Hawk's nest was that of the Red- 

 shouldered in an old liemloek about 60 

 feet high. It contained three eggs, two 

 of which were dirty white, blotched 

 with faint reddish brown chiefly at the 

 larger end. The other was dirty white, 

 very faintly marked with reddish- 

 brown spots at the larger end; we shot 

 the old liird. We also got two nujre 

 Crow's nests, each containing tive eggs. 



M. AND C, 



Windsor Co., Vt. 



The Pileated Woodpecker in Mahoning 

 Co., 0. 



On May 10th, while a companion and 

 myself were passing through a large 

 ]uece of timber about one mile from 

 Poland, this county, my companion 

 had occasion to discharge his gun. 



Immediately after the discharge, I 

 noticed a female Pileated Woodpecker 

 fly from the opposite side of a dead 

 hickory near by. 



After further investigation, I saw a 

 hole in the stub of a large limb about 

 fifty feet up, and chip^ at foot of tree. 



As I had no climbers, I concluded to 

 attempt to climb the tree without, al- 

 though there was not a single limb 

 between the ground and the excava- 

 tion. 



I had reached a height of about thir- 

 ty feet, when 1 concluded that i was 

 unequal to the task and reluctantly 

 descended to the ground. 



After looking at the hole for some 

 time, I noticed a small beech standing 

 al)out ten feet from the hickory reach- 

 ing to, and beyond the e.vcavation. 



I ascended this and after remaining 

 perched for some time looking wist- 

 fully at the nest, which, although so 

 near wnk yet so far, I cut a limb with a 

 hook on the end and found that by 

 hooking this around a limb on the 

 hickory and pulling with botii hands, I 

 t'ould bend the beech over until I could 



nearly reach the nest, but this was of 

 no avail as my hands were both in 

 use. 



I Anally concluded to borrow a rope 

 which I did, and after fastening one 

 end to the hickory, I wrapped the 

 other end around a limb on the beech, 

 and after considerable ditticulty, suc- 

 ceeded in pulling it over until it 

 touched the hickory. 



After working for some time with a 

 knife, I succeeded in reaching the Ijot- 

 tom of the excavation and to my great 

 disgust withdrew an egg with the head 

 and bill of a bird protruding. I re- 

 turned this and found that the nest 

 contained one bird just out and another 

 egg which was bad— not rotten, but one 

 of those instances in which the con- 

 tents remain clear, and comparatively 

 inofit'ensi\e to the smell. 



It is a fairly good specimen, pure 

 glossy white and measures about 1.30 x 

 .95. 



The excavation was 18 inches in 

 depth and between 4 and 5 inches in 

 diameter at the entrance. 



The eggs were placed on chips at the 

 bottom of the excavation. 



This bird is very rare here, many 

 persons never having .seen one. 



If any other person has taken eggs of 

 this species in this county would like to 

 hear from them. 



W. H. Olney, 

 Mahoning Co., Ohio. 



A Shower of Birds. 



Thei'e was a great destruction of 

 birds in Cedar Rapids Saturday' night. 

 May 17th, between 9 and 10 o'clock. 



There was a se\'ere rain-.storm, dur 

 ing which the birds cauu^. down in hun- 

 dreds. Most of them were birds that 

 do not nest around here and are not at 

 all ct)mmon. 



Several taxidermists wh(j reside in 

 the city succeeded in getting a fine lot 

 of specimens. 



