60 



THE OOLOGIST. 



edly shot in various portions of the State, 

 in June and July, and the fact of its nest- 

 ing in suitable places is very probable. 



A Little Experience with King- 

 fishers' Nests. 



Two Nests in One. — While out collect- 

 ing specimens one morning in the latter part 

 of August, while stopping at Bethlehem 

 (White Mts.), N. H., I chanced upon an 

 old Downy Woodpecker's nest. It was 

 about four feet from the ground in an old 

 birch stump, on the edge of a large patch 

 of woods. As I was going past it, I knock- 

 ed the butt of my gun against the stump, 

 when I thought I heard a slight noise with- 

 in. On going back, I put my fingers into 

 the hole and tore away the bark, when out 

 sprang a beautiful brown mouse of some 

 kind, which on reaching the ground ran 

 under the stone wall that was quite near. 

 He had built a nest of cedar bark in the 

 hole, and in it were six young mice. As 

 I lifted the nest out to examine them, what 

 was my surprise to see two bird's eggs un- 

 der it, lying on some grass and featliers at 

 the bottom of the hole. I took out the eggs 

 and replaced the mice as carefully as pos- 

 sible. There was no difficulty in identify- 

 ing the eggs to be those of the White-bel- 

 lied Nuthatch (^Sitta carolinensis) . They 

 were of a rosy white, and covered over the 

 entire surface with tine dots and spots of 

 red. Dimensions were .79 by .60 and .79 

 by .59. Why the mouse ever allowed the 

 eggs to stay there as long as they did, in 

 my mind is a question. Reader. 



[The little brown mouse our correspon- 

 dent found in the Woodpecker's nest was 

 a jumping mouse (jaculus hudsonius, Bd.), 

 commonly known as the deer mouse. These 

 little creatures often take up their abode in 

 abandoned Woodpeckers' and Chickadees' 

 nests, but the finding of the eggs and young 

 mice together, is indeed, a curious note. 

 Doubtless the Nuthatch had chosen the hole 

 for its own, and, after having laid two eggs, 

 was driven away by the too close proximi- 

 ty of the mouse. — Ed.] 



TU'HAT collector has not had the pleas- 

 ' ' ure of digging out a Kingfisher's nest 

 some five or six feet in the solid earth, to 

 find emptiness or young birds ? The col- 

 lector who has not, seems to me to be a 

 great exception to the rule, for as a gen- 

 eral thing, a Kingfisher's burrow is one of 

 the first nests the collector finds, as it is 

 one of the first hunted for. 



The thump upon the sod above the hole 

 usually brings out the old bird, and the en- 

 thusiastic youth, with visions of the prov- 

 erbial uuhatched chickens in his mind's eye, 

 begins lustily to use hands, feet, and any 

 other available object to dig away the earth. 

 When about three feet of the work are ac- 

 complished, and the hole is exposed to the 

 eye for a foot or so further in, he looks 

 long, and strains his eyes till they ache, in 

 endeavoring to get a sight of the eggs. Ah, 

 they are there, their glistening whiteness 

 too plainly betraying their position to the 

 anxious collector. Another foot of the hole 

 laid open, and the youth looks again long 

 and steadily, pressing his face against the 

 earth until a recognition of his countenance 

 would be quite dubious, and shifting him- 

 self about until his collar and arm-sleeves 

 contain a quart of terra firma. But the 

 eggs are thei'e, at least six or seven of them. 

 The work is hard, especially under a broil- 

 ing sun, but the enterprising naturalist is 

 bound to have those eggs. Another foot 

 is laid bare, and another look is taken into 

 the hole. The hand and arm are carefully 

 introduced, but the coat-sleeve is in the 

 way : the coat is taken off to prevent fur- 

 ther annoyance. Then the arm goes in a- 

 gain, but despite working around and grind- 

 ing the earth into the ears, eyes, and mouth, 

 the eggs cannot yet be reached. After en- 

 larging the hole a little more, the collector 

 strains his nerves to get at the eggs. He 

 experiences a depression near the end of 

 the hole, and feels something soft : that is 

 the nest — the feathers, and the esgs cannot 



