were found on our return to the island 
September 8. 
Ten eggs of this species averaged in 
measurement 29.4x1g9.3 millimetres. 
A. W. ANTHONY. 
——-- —- +e = 
Chimney Swift Feeding its Young. 
HOUGH so common, and living as it 
does in the summer so near us, the 
life-history of this bird is still but 
little known to most persons. The true 
and instructive frontispiece in the August 
Nipo.ocis? is of the greatest interest, and 
one can be at least thankful for the patience 
and enterprise of the photographers of that 
picture. My friend, Mr. Nelson R. Wood, 
some years ago had an excellent apportu- 
nity of observing some old birds feeding 
their young, and I have prepared the follow- 
ing as he related the circumstances to me. 
Place: an old-fashioned large chimney in an 
old cooper’s shop in Clyde, Wayne County, 
New York, with our friend crouching at 
the fireplace watching, but unobserved by 
the birds. Nest: about twelve feet up and 
about fifteen feet from the top of the chim- 
ney, andcontaining young. With one bird 
on the nest, its mate enters and descends to 
about twelve inches below the nest; the 
sitting bird leaves and the other climbs up, 
and perching on the edge of the nest dis- 
gorges the tood and feeds the young. Hav- 
ing finished, it takes its place in the nest 
over the young and awaits the arrival of 
its mate with a fresh supply of food. ‘The 
feeding thus alternates every three to five 
minutes, sometimes more, until the young 
are satisfied. As is well known, the old 
Swifts retain the flies captured in.the mouth 
until a sufficient quantity is obtained. The 
insects are held in the mouth and throat, 
and apparently no effort is made by the 
bird to crush and kill them, as specimens 
taken at such times will show most of the 
flies living, but prevented from escaping by 
the abundant saliva. Additional informa- 
tion regarding the feeding habits of the 
young while in the chimney, and also about 
their first efforts at flight, would be inter- 
esting and instructive. 2 
WILLIAM PALMER. 
Washington, D.C. 
—__—_—_———+ @-¢—____—__ 
Dr. Couks adds a word or two in the last Aus 
to the controversy over the defects in the new 
A. O U. Check-List, started by Mr. William 
Palmer's recent articles in THE NIDOLOGIST. 
THE NIDOLOGIST 17 
Habits of the Turkey Vulture. 
HE young Turkey Vulture shown in 
the sketch was taken on July 21, 
1891, from a hole in a large maple, 
broken off about ten feet from the ground 
leaving a cavity similar in size and shape 
to the inside of a barrel. ‘The location 
was on a steep hillside covered with trees 
and brush, in an unfrequented locality. 
At the time of discovery neither parent was 
present. When the attention of the young 
birds was attracted by mesns of a stick, 
they would rise up and then bump down 
against the bottom of the hole, making at 
the same time a noise liks ‘‘scrawze.’’ 
There was no attempt at nest-making, 
and no offal within the hole. The odor, 
however, was very unpleasant, and this is 
retained to some degree by the mounted 
bird. 
On May 5, 1892, the nest was visited 
before daylight. The sitting bird left with- 
out looking behind her after the writer had 
climbed up and looked in. A_ beautiful 
set of two eggs incubated one-third was 
taken. The next year, under similar cir- 
cumstances, a second set was taken. Since 
then the birds have nested undisturbed 
until the present year, when the building 
of a saw-mill one hundred yards away, and 
a dwelling house not far off, gave them 
excuse for changing their quarters. They 
are, however, still in the vicinity, and 
doubtless nest near by. 
The writer has heard old men belonging 
to the rural population tell of having seen 
Turkey Buzzards at their roosts where they 
congregated in great numbers, and unlike 
W.C. Purdin’s Flickers, hung by the toes 
in long strings along the limbs while roost- 
ing. 
The writer has seldom seen Turkey Vul- 
tures perching in trees except along streams, 
where they can be seen commonly during 
the summer months sitting singly in com- 
panies in the sycamores. 
Aloug the Ohio River they often band 
together in companies of fifty or more, and 
spend much time in standing on the sandy 
shores bathing and sunning themselves, 
often with wings outspread; or mounting 
into the air, they sail about in close bunches, 
making a constellation of black stars in the 
heavens. 
Toward evening they descend to lower 
levels, and circling about time after time 
over the tree-tops, along the mouths of the 
