164 



THE OOLOGIST. 



careful records of detail rejfarding com- 

 mon species as well as rare, would 

 seem to me to offer a field for contribu- 

 tor s, but little entered and of surpass- 

 ing interest and value. 



Cdn't we have a waking up, an orni- 

 thological revival, and can't we see the 

 OoLOGiST once more rival its most 

 balmy days, in interest of contents if 

 not in size? 



I believe there are many of the pres- 

 ent readers who remember the OOlo- 

 GiST as one of the main inspirations of 

 their early efforts toward scientific re- 

 search, and in their hearts regard it 

 with a fondness which will never at- 

 tach to more pretentious publications. 

 It may necessitate some trouble and 

 perhaps the burning of some "mid- 

 night oil" on the part of some of us who 

 are pretty busy with other matters, but 

 let's have a regular stampede of origi- 

 nal, valuable contributions, criticisms, 

 and suggestions, and I'll warrant the 

 surprise party will be welcome to our 

 friend, the M. D. B. S. Bowdish, 

 Guana, Cuba. 



Nest of the Bald Eagle. 



On the 19th of December Louis came 

 in and said he had flushed an eagle 

 from the nest we had been watching 

 for several weeks. 



A few days later we took our climb- 

 ers, egg box, etc , and started for the 

 nest which was in a pine tree in the 

 open woods, about a mile inland from 

 the ocean. When we were within 

 about 200 yards from the tree the old 

 bird flew off and began circling above 

 our heads uttering shrill cries. As we 

 approached the tree she showed quite a 

 desire to ''do things" to us, but a load 

 of shot soon made her think that it was 

 unhealthy to come too close and she 

 flew higher up. 



The nest was a bulky structure which 

 could easily be seen a mile away with 

 the naked eye. A hard climb of 58 feet 

 found me beneath it, with the rather 



diflBcult job of tearing away the north 

 side before I could get into it. This oc- 

 cupied nearly half an hour, the eagle in 

 the mean time kept circling above my 

 head making a great fuss, but did not 

 offer to attack me. When I finally got 

 into the nest I felt well repaid for my 

 trouble as I carefully packed in the tgg 

 box the one white egg on which incuba- 

 tion had jast begun. 



The nest was evidently several years 

 old and was solidly built of pine sticks, 

 burrs, needles and grass roots, with 

 some palmetto bark and water hya- 

 cinths, an aquatic plant that is cast on 

 the beach in great numbers. The cen- 

 ter was Inside with dirt and rubbish, 

 while the outer edge was all pine sticks 

 which seemed loosely piled together, 

 but was nevertheless solid enough so 

 that I stood on it without fear of its 

 giving way. 



The outside of the nest was six feet 

 across and five feet deep. The top was 

 flat except for the rim of sticks around 

 the outer edge, which was raised about 

 a foot higher than the rest of the nest, 

 thus preventing a person or. the 

 ground from seeing the bird while 

 sitting. The depression for the egg 

 was li feet across and five inches deep. 

 The only lining was a trashy lot of bits 

 of hyacinths and broken reeds. Quite 

 a number of bird feathers, flsh bones 

 aad rabbit fur were found by digging 

 into the nest a little way, evidently 

 having been covered up as the nest was 

 repaired year after year. 



The old birds hung around their de- 

 spoiled home for several days after- 

 ward and then disappeared, but 

 we hope to sen them again next winter 

 whan the breeding season rolls around. 

 E. L, Warner, 

 Pablo Beach, Fla. 



The Grasshopper Sparrow. 



After I became familiar with the hab- 

 its of the Grasshopper Sparrow I de- 

 voted a great deal of lime in the breed- 



