AMERICAN OENITHOLOGY. 231 



kingfisher on her own nest. With the hunting ax that I had with me, 

 and a stick, I managed to dig away about nine feet of the bank, and 

 then reaching my hand in I drew out a female Belted Kingfisher. The 

 next time I drew out my hand I had six snow white eggs. 



LoTHROP Lee Brown, 



Evanston, 111. 



You asked our opinions on Gerald Thomas' Goldfinch. I should not 

 think that it was intoxicated, but maybe it had formerly been tame. 

 One I once found in the summer of 1898 was not afraid, of course it 

 would not be in a baby such as "Goldie" was. There was a maple 

 near our veranda, and in it a pair of Goldfinches were nesting. The 

 baby, when the time came to go, would not fly, and so he was left to 

 the "Bird Ladies" and my own care. We caught flies for Goldie at 

 first, but she learned to eat egg. At last the "Bird Ladies" had to go 

 and Goldie with them. The last I heard she was in full plumage and 

 song, and full of love. . Lewis S. Gannett, 



Rochester, N. Y. 



A few days ago I went out to my uncle's ranch to spend the day, 

 and having nothing to do, lay down under a shed and watched the 

 swallows busily building their mud nests on the rafters and under the 

 eaves of a large barn. 



Now the place where these swallows went for mud was at least a 

 quarter of a mile distance, yet there was one that got back fully ten 

 minutes before the others every trip. Hardly being able to understand 

 how it was that he was so much quicker of wing than the others, I 

 resolved to watch him, and see if he was really so much quicker or if he 

 had discovered a new mud hole nearer. But, no! It was neither one 

 of the things, for I watched him, and when he had finished his work on 

 the nest, he flew neither faster than the others, nor was it a new mud 

 hole. But, yes, I can call it a new mud hole, for he flew straight to 

 another nest, (not his own) and deliberately broke off a piece of the 

 fresh mud and then calmly began working it into his own nest as if by 

 rights belonged to him. Having discovered that much I waited to see 

 what the robbed bird would do on his return, but to my surprise he 

 began working on his nest as if nothing had happened out of the usuaL 



Lester D. Summerfield, 



Reno, Nevada. 



I have put up two, bird boxes and am having some tree swallows 

 build in them. They are very tame. I photographed one this morn- 

 ing. Samuel D. Robbins, 



Belmont, Mass. 



