ii8 



THE YOUNG OOLOGIST. 



not treated of birds in this book in the 

 order of their classification, because that 

 was not considered a readable method. 

 He has simply indicated the classification 

 and typical forms in passing, but followed 

 the order of the seasons, beginning with 

 Winter, and grouped the birds about lo- 

 calities according to their local habitat. 

 This increases the interest of the reader 

 and invests the whole siibject with the 

 charm of life. 



As specimen biographies, we think those 

 of the gold finch, the robin, the red-tailed 

 hawk, and the water fowl, could scarcely 

 be improved. In the whole work Mr. 

 Langille has rendered a great service to 

 the lovers of nature. Its pages are filled 

 with devout homage to the Creator. It 

 plainly teaches how to look through nature 

 up to nature's God. — The Christian Advo- 

 cate. 



Interesting Notes on Horned Lark, 

 Sparrow Hawk, etc., from Iowa. 



I became acquainted with this bird, (the 

 Horned Lark) only last March. One morn- 

 ing, while the snow was still three feet deep 

 in places, I was taldng a walk in a country 

 road, and heard a faint lisping note 

 coming from a field. I investigated, and 

 when it became light enough, saw that 

 hundreds of these birds were feeding 

 in the open pastures. Every few minutes 

 a large flock would fly overhead and 

 alight further on, or some of those 

 near me would fly ofi" in a small flock. 

 They were so busily feeding, that on this 

 and succeeding mornings I approached 

 within four or five feet of a flock. As 

 they fed they gradually moved on until 

 some obstruction was offered, and then 

 flew. When flying they kept uttering a 

 lisping ditty, hardly to be called a song, 

 which seemed to me to sound like " Ghe- 

 we'-o. Twice they showed their family 

 traits by rising to a great height, sustaining 

 themselves by wing-beating, and weakly 

 pouring forth their song. ' ' The lark at 

 heaven's gate sings." Most of the early 

 summer I heard their ordinary seven or 

 eight sjdlabled song from the pastures and 



dry slopes. Then I suppose they departed 

 for their breeding places farther north. 

 Audubon gives a fine description of their 

 habits and nests in Labrador, but they 

 also breed in the states. They seem to 

 be wholly ground feeders, and to have 

 many of the habits of the Meadow 

 Lark, but their song is very much 

 weaker and not melodious. They returned 

 on their way south October 11th, more 

 silent than in the spring. In the spring 

 migration I observed one White-crowned 

 Sparrow, which Burroughs calls ' ' The 

 most beautiful and rarest of the sparrow 

 tribe," to about every twenty White- 

 throated. 



One morning, rather cool and damp, I 

 found a Sparrow Hawk ; which had caged 

 itself in a carpenter's shop, entering through 

 a broken window, but not being able to 

 find its way out again. I caught it with 

 some difficulty, and brought it home. 

 Whenever let out in a room it would fly 

 with great force against the window, some- 

 times hard enough to knock it down. If 

 you made any motion near it, it would 

 throw back its head, expand its wings and 

 threatingly open its rapacious beak, but 

 never flew at any one. It refused to eat 

 for some time, but at last took a little raw 

 meat. Its eyes were the very symbols of 

 hate and ferocity. It came to the common 

 fate of pet birds, the taxidermist's hands. 

 S. L. W. 



Grinnell, la. 

 ■ ♦ ■ 



Novel Bird Snare. 



A year ago last August, while walking 

 in the woods, I noticed a bird fluttering 

 among the "Stick-tights" or "Beggar- 

 lice " that grew by the side of a rail fence: 

 on going to the spot I discovered a Sparrow 

 Hawk hanging about two feet from the 

 ground, with its tail fastened among the 

 burrs. About two feet away hung the 

 dead body of a Song Sparrow. After I 

 had pulled the burrs out of the hawks tail 

 he seemed as well as if he had not been 

 trapped. 



Chas. W. Carter, 

 Aledo, 111 



