THE YOUNG OOLOGIST. 



11 



Correspondence. 



Fbom 0. W. S., Boston, Mass. — In look- 

 ing over your circular I saw an advertise- 

 ment of a Monthly -which you proposed to 

 issue. Is this to be exclusively confined to 

 oology ? I think that if you can publish a 

 Monthly Magazine at the price designated 

 in your circular, you ought to get subscri. 

 bers enough. Are you going to accept arti- 

 cles written by amateiu's, concerning collect- 

 ing, eggs, nests, etc. ? Please let me know 

 further particulars concerning this Monthly. 



Certainly, we are publishing this Monthly 

 for the benefit of amateurs and young col- 

 lectors, and we want, and shall expect them 

 to tell us all about their collecting trips, etc. 

 If they do not, we shall be greatly disap- 

 pointed, and are afraid our Monthly will be 

 a dry affair. Let every collector send in 

 some item of interest, and we can assure you 

 that our Monthly will be a success. — [Ed. 



BIBD-LIJIE. 



C. J., Utica, N. Y., writes: "Will you, in 

 the first issue of the Monthly, be so kind as 

 to give a recipe for making bird-lime for 

 catching birds ?" 



As we have never had any experience in 

 the use or manufacture of bird-lime, we take 

 he following from Kingsley's Natixralists' 

 Assistant : ' ' Take linseed oil and heat it over 

 a slow fire (carefu.lly watching it to see that 

 it does not burn), until it is very thick ; then 

 pour it into cold water. If it should prove 

 too thick, the addition of a little pine tar 

 A\'ill readily thin it for use. The bird-lime 

 should be smeared on the branches of trees, 

 etc., where birds most do congregate, and 

 by adhering to their feet, it holds them fast, 

 and renders them an easy prey to the col- 

 lector." 



Should any of our friends attempt the 

 manufacture of bird-lime, we would advise 

 them not to make it in a building as it is 

 quite inflamable. 



A BAKE SET OF BUZZARD EGGS. 



J. B. B. , Wytheville, Va. , writes us as fol- 

 lows : "I enclose a piece clipped from an 

 old paper. Please inform me what kind of 

 Buzzard the one spoken of is." 



Kemabks. — "Well, friend B., we must can- 



didly acknowledge that we have never seen 

 or heard of eggs in the Buzzard line that 

 will answer the description given. We pub- 

 lish the clipping below for the benefit of the 

 "Doctors," trusting they will give us some 

 light on the subject: 



A CuEiosiTY. — Our veteran Surveyor and 

 mountain climber, A. M. Lusk, whilst run- 

 ning the lines of Vesuvius property, found a 

 pair of Buzzard eggs under a shelving rock 

 on the top of the Blue Ridge. It is very 

 seldom that these eggs are found, and in the 

 whole ramblings of Mr. Lusk he has never 

 before seen one nor has he ever met a man 

 who had seen them. They are of indigo 

 blue in color, with pink spots on them about 

 as large as a three cent piece. In size the 

 eggs are about a medium between a turkey 

 egg and that of a goose. — Lexington Gazette. 



YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIED ; DWAEE OOWBmD. 



I think your idea of a Magazine for the 

 interchange of experience and queries a fine 

 one. I hoi^e some one will tell all they 

 know aboiit the Yellow-headed Blackbird in 

 an early niimber. The Dwarf Cowbird is 

 very common here. I have seen twenty-five 

 in a single flock. You may hear from me 

 again. Hoping your venture will meet with 

 the success it deserves, I remain, etc. , 



N. A. S., York, Nebraska. 



Will some of our Western friends tell us 

 about the Yellow-headed Blackbird ? This 

 bird is very common in some parts of the 

 West, and we shall expect an interesting 

 article at an early date from some Western, 

 collector. We trust that friend S. will not 

 forget to send us the notes. Nebraska items 

 on birds, etc. will be of interest to all. 



Eg^gs of tlie Virginia, Sora and 

 Clapper Rail. 



One of our correspondents wants us to 

 give a description of the eggs of the Virgin- 

 ia Bail, and to state wherein they differ from 

 those of other Rails. We take the following, 

 by Snowdon Rowland, of Newport, R. I., 

 from the Ornithologist and Oologist : 



"Clai^per Rails average from 1.82x1.25 to 

 1.63x1.14; Virginia Rails, from 1.30x.96 to 

 1.23X.90; Sora Rails, 1.35x1 to 1.15x.85, ac- 

 cording to Samuels. From my own expe- 

 rience, the Vu-ginia Rails are always larger 

 than Sora, lighter in color and with fewer 



