THE OOLOGIST. 



251 



his neck, and consoquontly the cabinets 

 of several collectors in this locality con- 

 tained a well assorted collection of the 

 eggs of this species — in some instances 

 honored or dishonored by the names of 

 certain birds that happened to be ira- 

 13ress3 1 on the collectors' vision as the 

 i-ightful owner glided noisely from the 

 opposito side of the nest ere her real 

 identity could be established. 



The Catbird, however, was not dis- 

 couraged and is fast recovering from 

 the blow. 



Among mj best tinds for 1890 was a 

 tine nest and set of eggs of the Ruby- 

 throated H umra i n gbird . 



The nest was built on the crotch of a 

 drooping apple-tree branch in an or- 

 chard. 



I also found a nest of the Cardinal 

 Grosbeak containing two eggs. 



Upon approaching the nest a short 

 time after its discovery, I saw a snake 

 al)()ut two feet long, coiled up therein. 



I drove it oat, but as was to be ex- 

 pected, the nest was abandoned by the 

 birds. 



The Cui'dinal has become rare here. 



I can say and truthfully too, that a 

 single copy of the Oologist is worth 

 d(juble the yearly subscription i^rice to 

 the collector. 



Every jDresent subscriber should in- 

 duce, at least, one friend to subscribe 

 and thus double its present circulation. 



When that has been done it would be 

 a good plan for to increase the Oolo- 

 gist in size by about one-half. 



[If each of our present subscribers 

 would send us a single new subscriber 

 we would be able to double the present 

 size of the Oologist. — Pub.] 



I think I had better quit writing 

 Ijefore I depart any farther from the 

 subject. 



W. H. Olnky, 

 Poland, Ohio. 



The Evening Grosbeak in N H. 

 It was Thursday, May 1, 1S90. My 



school was to close the next day and I 

 had nearly all my movables packed, 

 preparatory to spending my vacation 

 in Maine. My large gun was in the 

 bottom of my- trunk. My small gun 

 was in an extension case, the pieces of 

 the gun being carefully wrapped in 

 paper. The shells were somewhere in 

 the case, which was well filled and 

 tightly strapped. 



I arrived in front of the school build- 

 ing at just three minutes before one by 

 the town clock. School was to begi u 

 at once. I heard a new and peculiar 

 note. I soon discovered the author in 

 a maple tree near by. 



I hurriedly threw my armfull of 

 books to a scholar and asked him to 

 watch the bird, while I ran to my room 

 on the second floor of the hotel, about 

 twenty rods distant. The contents of 

 my extension case soon covered the 

 floor. I seized a handful of shells and 

 the three parts of my gun, which I put 

 together while running back. 



I had entirely forgotten my wanted 

 dignity and was the object of several 

 cutting remarks by the bystanders. 



But what cared I? The bird was 

 soon pointed out to me. He had fioAvu 

 to the other side of the road and was 

 hopping from branch to branch in an 

 old apple-tree. I made a lucky shot 

 and the gasping, quivering form was 

 soon in my hand. Tt)o l)ad':' Yes, but 

 such work is necessarj' to an under- 

 standing of the science, and why 

 should not the birds of the wood and 

 air be subject to the wants of man as 

 well as the barn yard fowl? 



The bird proved to be an E\-ening 

 Grosbeak. The first one I had ever 

 seen alive. I was a few minutes late to 

 school, but the scholars were interested 

 in the specimen and I felt well repaid. 

 Is this the first instance of the occur- 

 rence of this bird in New Hampshire? 



S. L. Crosby, a Bangor taxidermist, 

 showed me last summer the skin of an 

 Evenincr Grosbeak which he had taken 



