THE OOLOGIST. 



81 



four o'clock in the afternoon they begin to 

 collect in vast flocks, from every quarter, 

 in these ridges to roost. And, with tlieir 

 coming is heard the roar of wings like e- 

 quinoctial wind-storms, and grand rever- 

 berations of song. But amid that almost 

 deafening roar of music, is heard, at inter- 

 vals, a note on a different key, from their 

 terrible enemy — the Owl. These scaven- 

 gers of the forest, as we may call them, are 

 heard regularly during day and night, giv- 

 ing answering calls to one another and no 

 doubt striking terror to the hearts of the 

 Robins. In the evening when the victims 

 are asleep, the slaughter begins — above by 

 the Owl, and below by other enemies in the 

 line of the smaller beasts of prey. These 

 animals on the ground find easy victims a- 

 mong the lower stalks and make a fair liv- 

 ing thereby. In the day time the remains 

 of numerous T. migratorii^ consisting of 

 wings, feathers, etc., are found scattered 

 over the ground beneath tne cones. 



barrel of my gun, but without avail. In 

 some instances I have put them up, but as 

 a general thing I have failed to start them 

 the second time. G. H. Ragsdale. 



Gainesville^ Texas. 



Coturniculus Lecontei perches on 

 a Tree. 



"nURING the winter of '76 I was riding 

 through a small prairie of some three 

 acres, in the Lower Crosstimbers, when I 

 flushed a Leconte's Sparrow, which alight- 

 ed in a small bush some three feet high, 

 and while perched there I shot it. During 

 January, '78 I scared one from the grass, 

 which alighted on an elm limb about twen- 

 ty feet high, and remained until I fired and 

 killed it. This one acted much like a Wren 

 while on the limb. 



This bird I find very difficult to kill. 

 Sometimes I have flushed one that would 

 fly only some forty paces and drop down in 

 the grass ; upon rushing to the place I could 

 never put up the bird. On some occasions 

 I have thrown down my hat at the very 

 spot where the bird ■yvas marked down and 

 began tramping the grass in a circle until 

 a quarter of an acre was tramped over, but 

 no bird could I find. At other times I have 

 rushed frantically to the spot and fired one 



The English or House Sparrow. 



(^.Passer do^nesticus .) 



nPHIS Sparrow, about which so much is 

 now being said, was first introduced in- 

 to this country at the city of Portland, 

 Maine, and in the few succeeding years has 

 completely overrun our larger eastern cit- 

 ies, and is gradually extending its domain to 

 the far West. 



After its arrival at Portland, a few pairs 

 were imported to New York, where houses 

 were erected for them in Central Park, and 

 from these few pairs the bird has distributed 

 itself north, south, east and west, taking 

 the New World by storm, imitating the 

 method with which it took the Old World 

 by assault, where it has extended itself to 

 Paris, Madrid, Gibraltcr, Tunis, Constan- 

 tinople, Berlin, and even across the barren 

 steppes and trackless forests of Russia to 

 St. Petersburg. 



The habits of this bird are Avell known, 

 — how it will abstract crumbs from almost 

 the bills of pigeons, or how it will sit on the 

 edge of a curb and scold at the passer-by, 

 demanding of him his right to presume to 

 dispute the passage of the walk with him. 



The nesting place of the House Sparrow 

 is of a very miscellaneous character, eaves 

 of buildings, holes in old trees, boxes of ev- 

 ery shape erected for his accommodation, 

 bushes, trees, and even holes in old walls, 

 are among the many situations in which its 

 nest is found. It lays from three to seven 

 eggs, rarely eight, of a pinkish hue, spotted 

 with a red dusky brown, although they vary 

 much in size, color and shape. 



It is supposed that this bird deposits her 

 eggs at all seasons, and I have noticed in 

 December the bird industriously conveying 

 straws to the eaves of houses, to prepare a 

 home for her winter born young. If the 



