THE NIDOLOGIST 77 
Earty Recorp.—Jan. 22.—A flock of fifty 
Geese, going West.. Cari Fritz HENNING. 
“ Birds’ Home,’ Boone, Ia. 
* * 
A Few [lichigan Notes. 
On July 1, 1895, R. R. Newton found a 
Wood Pewee’s nest near this city, saddled onto 
a horizontal branch, fifteen feet above the 
ground and three or four feet out from the trunk. 
It contained young, partially feathered, and a 
Cuckoo's egg, which was badly incubated. This 
looks a trifle as though our American bird has 
taken upon himself one of the traits of his 
European cousin. 
I notice that the Dickcissel has been up for 
discussion in the Nrpotocist. I have never 
seen the bird myself, but Mr. A. B. Durfee says 
that he has found it fairly common in the 
meadows near this city. 
R. R. Newton took a fine male Pine Grosbeak 
from a flock January 6, 1896. It was in the 
height of the red plumage. 
Horned Larks have been with us in large 
flocks for the past month. 
W. E. MULLIKEN. 
Grand Rapids, Mich., Jan. 28, 1896. 
* * 
Notes from Connecticut. 
Kingfishers, Downy and Red-headed Wood- 
peckers have been quite plenty since December 
8. I noticed four Kingfishers asleep in an old 
shed near our pond during a snowstorm. They 
seemed quite startled by my presence. A large 
flock of Redwings were seen January 3, but 
none have been seen since. LL. M. CLark. 
Suffield, Conn., Feb. 4, 1896. 
* * 
Bluebirds in West Virginia. 
Epiror NIpOoLocisr. 
Dear Sir: Thereare quite afew birds win- 
tering here, among others the Bluebird. I was 
quite surprised, when I first came here (about 
November 25), to see a good many Bluebirds; 
saw several flocks of thirty. The first week of Jan- 
uary, was very cold and they disappeared, but 
since then it has been quite warm, and a few 
have again come back. 
Other birds wintering are a few Cardinals; 
Juncos; Hairy, Downy, Red-bellied, and Pileated 
Woodpeckers ; lots of Tufted Titmice, Chick- 
adees, White-bellied Nuthatches, Tree Sparrows ; 
a few Brown Creepers and Horned Owls. 
R. B. Simpson. 
Arches, W. Va., Jan. 29, 1896. 
> 7 
Mining by Taxidermy. 
R. JOHN A. BRYANT, of Kansas 
City, Mo., writes us: 
“Tt may be that this will be of some 
interest to the readers of the Nipo.ocisr. I 
had an occasion a few days since to drop in on 
one of our prominent taxidermists and found 
him much excited over the peculiar condition 
of a pair of jaws he had taken from the heads. 
of two deer sent to him for mounting. The 
jaws in question were those of the ordinary deer 
of Colorado, but the molars were incrusted with 
a brownish-yellow substance, which, on being. 
scraped off and assayed, proved to be gold. 
Of course the professor was worked up over the 
find. He claimed that he knew the locality 
where the deerwere killed, and that he thought 
he would be able to locate a placer mine from 
this leader, as these deer (according to his 
ideas) no doubt incrusted their teeth with the 
gold from licking at some sandy salt lick, or by 
the teeth grinding the grass with gold amid the 
soil that the roots were imbedded in. He says 
that the animals were killed within a radius of 
one hundred miles of Cripple Creek, but will 
not give the exact location, as he is going to 
sell out his business and prospect for this, 
which he considers, will prove an extremely rich 
gold field.” 
>- +o 
Trapping Hyenas. 
HIS is the way they catch hyenas in Africa. 
The trap is built on the simple “ dead- 
fall” principle, and itis needless to say 
the animal is not taken alive. Just what 
crushed hyena is useful for we do not know, 
but at any rate the tables are turned, and, in- 
stead of the “laughing hyena,” the native has 
the laugh on the hyena. 
> > > 
WE take pleasure in this number in presenting to 
our readers a good portrait of Mr. A. W. Anthony, of 
San Diego, Cal. His active work in Western Ornith— 
ology is too well known to need comment here. We 
regard his recent election to active membership in the 
American Ornithologists’ Union as simply a fair ex- 
change of honors. 
Tue NipoLocist appears with a beautiful new 
cover. Among the contributors are many eminent 
Ornithologists; but stories of collecting adventures 
and ‘‘ Notes from the Field” present nature and bird- 
life in their most charming aspects.—. Sports A field. 
