THE OOLOGIST. 



149 



honest conscience should dictate to the 

 individual, to what extent the end will 

 justify the means in matter of ornitho- 

 logical collecting and I should like to 

 know just where Mr. Wood stands on 

 this proposition. 



B S. BOWDISH, 



New York, Oct. 16, 1902. 



My First "Killy Hawk." 



It was some years ago, the second of 

 April, a cold and windy day. While 

 sitting in my father's office a laborer 

 from a local cemetery entered with a 

 wounded specimen of the American 

 Sparrow Hawk {Falco sparverius) com- 

 monly known as the 'Killy Hawk ' 

 The Jatter had been in a fight w;ith a 

 fellow of his own kind, I should judge, 

 and had come out pecond best. His 

 wing was hurt and his leg broken, be- 

 sides being spattered all over with 

 blood. If one neared him he would 

 open his mouth in a most savage way, 

 while his eyes would flash with anger. 

 However I took bim heme and with the 

 assistance of my brother, set to work 

 to cure him. We put antiseptics on his 

 wounds and bound his leg with shoe- 

 maker's wax and thread. (What would 

 a surgeon like the late Dr. Coues think 

 of this treatment i We then washed 

 the blood off of bis feathers and gave 

 him a corner in the barn. But we soon 

 found that he was not eating and 

 feared he would die of starvation, so 

 we held a consultation which decided 

 that the only way to feed him was to 

 shove food down his throat. This was 

 successfully performed with the assist- 

 ance of a match. Three times a day he 

 was fed, the bill-of-fare consisted of 

 two courses, beef steak and bread 

 soaked in milk. 



In about a week and a half he "felt 

 like a new man," and one clear day I 

 took him back to the place where he 

 was captured. At first he stood on my 

 finger and gazed upon the surround- 

 ings but when he realized that he was 



free he flew into a nearby oak. Here 

 he stayed but a minute and then flew 

 eastward until out of sight. 



All this was before I had acquired 

 the cruel art of making bird-skins. As 

 I once related the story to an old col- 

 lector, he smiled as he said: "1 am in- 

 clined to believe that were he to fall in- 

 to your hands now he would be 'cured^ 

 with arsenic and 'stufl:ed' with cotton 

 instead of meat." 



Although I have seen many birds of 

 this species since, watched them for 

 hours, studied them during the breed- 

 ing season while about ttieir homes, I 

 must say I took more pleasure with 

 this bird than with any whose acquaint- 

 ance I made later. 



A. W. Blain, Jr. 

 Detroit, Mich. 



Odd Nesting-. 



In the fall of 1900 a friend of mine 

 found a small nest by the road-side, 

 blown from some near-by tree; picking 

 the nest ud he carried it home and 

 placed it in a grapevine that was grow- 

 ing up the side of the house. With the 

 return of spring with its warm sunny 

 days, a pair of Chipping Sparrows ar- 

 rived from the south, and finding this 

 unoccupied nest, the mother bird at 

 once commenced relining it. In due 

 time it contained four eggs which were 

 hatched, and the little birds grew, and 

 were as happy as though they lived in 

 a typical nest of Spizella socialis. 

 Guy H. Bbiggs, 

 Livermore, Maine. 



CMmney Swift Trying- to Incubate 

 Cooked Eg-gs. 



I have taken two sets of the Chimney 

 Swift from our chimney, and all of 

 the eggs were cooked hard. 



Nest was placed ten or twelve feet 

 from top. This chimney is used every 

 day. Lisi'ENARD S. Horton, 



Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 



