THE dOLOdlST 



139 



A MOCKING BIRD TALK 



Recently, a friend of mine, and a 

 native of Georgetown, Del., dropped in 

 to see me and found me unpacking 

 some eggs. 



Now this friend lias what may be 

 called a rather vivid imagination. 

 This causes him to tell some rather 

 strange stories sometimes. 



Says he: "I remember once when I 

 was a boy, I tried to get me a young 

 Mocking Bird, They make grand 

 singers, you know. I found a nest one 

 day with three young ones, but they 

 were too small to take, so I waited 

 till they had time to grow and went 

 back for them later. I was pretty 

 foxy sneaking up on them, but it 

 wasn't any use. I'm blessed if the old 

 mother bird didn't spy me, and flew 

 down, picked up the three young ones 

 and flew off with them!" 



I told him that they often did that, 

 and I had even seen them carry the 

 nest along also! 



H. M. Harrison, 

 Camden, N. J. 



Some talk?— Editor. 



AN EXTRAORDINARY EXPERIENCE 



I know that my reputation for truth- 

 fulness is under fearful strain in the 

 telling of this tale, nevertheless I am 

 armed with all the proofs the most 

 credulous might demand. 



It was my pleasure on the 18th and 

 19th of May to visit my good friend, 

 Mr. Charles Miller, who has for many 

 years resided in the mountains that 

 skirt Big Piney creek in Polk County, 

 Arkansas. 'Tis a picturesque stream, 

 and when my eyes first laid possession 

 of this unvisited locality I prepared 

 myself for surprises of any kind. It 

 was a good harvest for a collector, 

 with Ovenbird, Kentucky Warbler, 

 Whip-poor-will, Chuck-wills-widow, and 



Pileated Woodpecker in hand, and 

 many common species as well. Here 

 is the Western limit, so far as known, 

 of Bachman's Sparrow, and the North- 

 ern boundary of the Pine Warbler. 



Just the other day, however, Mr. Mil- 

 ler took another set of Chuck-wills- 

 widow eggs, and drilled an egg only to 

 discover that it was too near hatching 

 to hope to make anything like a pre- 

 sentable specimen. What should he do 

 but hurry back to the woods, reaching 

 the nest within an hour after taking 

 the eggs, and deliver the eggs to the 

 bird who seemed to have an intuition 

 of his coming remorse, and who re- 

 ceived her treasures without comment. 

 Both eggs hatched, in spite of the fact 

 that one had been drilled! And both 

 mother and babies were doing well at 

 the last account. Mr Miller has taken 

 three sets of Pileated Woodpecker this 

 season, two of four eggs and one of 

 three. At Conway, I had the pleasure 

 of taking sets of four and five, and 

 securing a picture of the nesting sites 

 at both Conway and Lancaster. 



While we aTe dealing with things un- 

 canny we had just as well report the 

 taking of a full set of Crested Ply- 

 catcher from a rural mail box on the 

 Arkansas River, in Faulkner County 

 on June 1st, this year. 



H. E. Wheeler. 



BOBWHITE 



Sir, Bob White! greets me on every 

 side. How good it seems to hear 

 the fine little fellows again. When I 

 was a chap my folks often called my 

 attention to a flock of little one sit- 

 ting along on a fence, or dodging 

 about in the grass or maybe an individ- 

 ual running about, then for years they 

 were scarce. I would never hear one 

 call, but protection has done the work 

 and we have them again and welcome 

 little fellows they are. 



George W. H. Vos Burgh. 



