THE IOWA ORNITHOLOGIST. 



85 



usual this year, they remained all 

 summer and on the fifteenth day 

 of Jun^ one of my friends found 

 a nest with three eg-g^s and do- 

 nated it to my collection; this is 

 I believe the only record of its 

 nesting- in Boone Co. This same 

 year while camping at Lake Min- 

 netonka Minnesota, I found a 

 Cedar bird's nest built in a small 

 sappling- on the banks of the 

 Minnesota River: the nest only 

 contained one eg-g- .July 17, (two 

 days later than the set taken by 

 my friend at my home) not 

 having- the time to ag-ain return 

 to the nesting- paradise along- the 

 banks of the Minnesota River, 

 I left the nest and eg-g- for a more 

 fortunate Oolog-ist. The only 

 record I can find for '92 is Feb. 20. 

 In 1889 two Cedar birds were 

 sent to me for my collection from 

 Carroll, Iowa." ( Carl Fitz Hen- 



ning-.) 



This is a very baaudful bird 

 appearing- about the 15 th. of 

 February in our county, in flocks, 

 rang-ing- from a dozen to thirty. 



They feed on the red Cedar 

 berries, and are quite friendly. 

 Have no authentic account of it 

 nesting- in Mahaska Co. (W- A. 

 Bryan.) 



BLUEBIRDS. 



It has been stated that the 

 number of Bluebirds returning- 

 from the south this year is unusu- 



ally small. In order to ascertain 

 the cause of this g-reat loss, a 

 letter was sent to Mr. R. Ridg-- 

 way, curator in the Department 

 of Birds, Smithsonian Institution, 

 Washing-ton, asking- what had 

 become of the Bluebirds. Mr. 

 Ridg-v/ay is not only scientifically 

 interested, but he has a warm 

 humane regard for all bird-life. 

 He has sent us the following- let- 

 ter, with a pathetic description 

 of the suffering's and death of 

 our beautiful song-sters: — 



It affords me pleasure to answer 

 the questions concerning- the des- 

 truction of Bluebirds for the 

 market in Washing-ton and b}' the 

 so called '"blizzard" of February 

 last. Reg-arding- the killing- of 

 Bluebirds for the market I have 

 no reason to believe the practice 

 has been discontinued. As rnany 

 as two or three hundred have been 

 seen at one time in the g-ame- 

 stalls, thoug-h not publi:ly expos- 

 ed. In fact, being- carefully 

 plucked, the species could not be 

 identified except b}^ a person very 

 familiar with birds. 



The past winter was one of 

 wide-spread disaster to bird-life, 

 particularly to those kinds whose 

 food consisted in larg-e part of 

 insects and small fruits or berries. 

 The insect-eating- species were, 

 of course, deprived of their food 

 supply by the direct destruction of 

 the latter. The berry-eaters, on 

 the other hand, were deprived of 

 their food by the heav}^ snow-fall 



