166 



THE OOLOQIST 



Bendire's Crosbill In Kansas. 



To have a flock of birds come sud- 

 denly swooping down from the north 

 in fall, winter here, and have a pair 

 raise a brood of young before return- 

 ing north in the spring, sounds like 

 the wildest of legends but it isn't. 

 Such a thing happened here last win- 

 ter when a flock on September 11th 

 ranged the vicinity during the winter, 

 and returned north in the spring 

 (rather late), leaving an ambitious 

 pair who feared not the early season 

 in which to rear a brood. 



The nest was discovered on March 

 22nd. It was about twenty feet up in 

 a dying cedar, well placed amongst 

 up-right twigs. The female stayed on 

 the nest until I was surprisingly near 

 to it. The nest was rather scraggly 

 from the outside, but a flrm little hol- 

 low it was on the inside. The outside 

 was made of cedar twigs, while the 

 inside was lined with rootlets and 

 feathers. It, as a whole, was rather 

 bulky for so small a bird. The con- 

 tents were one pale, very pale blue 

 egg blotched with blackish. I was 

 pleased to see the female return to 

 the nest after my descent. 



At a later date there were three 

 eggs, which hatched into youngsters 

 who flew for the north with their par- 

 ents not until June. 



This is the first time Bendire's or 

 any other, as far as I know. Crossbill 

 has been known to nest in the State. 



a! S. Hyde, 

 Topeka. Kan. 



Woodpeckers and Flying Squirrels. 



Last season, 1916, while out collect- 

 ing I located a Flicker's nest in the 

 trunk of a dead tree in a "creek bed. 

 On climbing to the nest hole, several 

 flying squirrels flew from the top of 

 the tree. The Flicker's hole held 

 young and eggs. 



On returning to the tree this year, 

 the Flicker had young in the same 



hole, which had been much enlarged 

 at the entrance to admit my hand. A 

 red-headed Woodpecker had taken up 

 his abode about two feet above the 

 Flicker's home and at this time held 

 highly incubated eggs, while the usual 

 large family of squirrels occupied the 

 remaining top of the tree which did 

 not extend more than eight feet above 

 the Woodpecker's hole and consisted 

 of but a few broken up limbs. Five 

 squirrels flew from the tree and one at 

 least remained in the hollow top. 

 There appeared to be no dissention 

 in this curious family, all occupying 

 the same tree top in harmony. 



Albert J. Kirn. 



The Egret in New Jersey 



The occurence of any "White" 

 Herons beyond their habitat is of like 

 interest to the layman and ornitholo- 

 gist. Like the appearance of an eagle, 

 everybody gets a gun to slay the bird 

 or birds whenever any appears and 

 the hand of man is the cause of their 

 disappearance in the vicinity of Phila- 

 delphia. 



I have twice seen the Egret (Herod- 

 ias egretta) near Philadelphia, in New 

 Jersey. On August 11, 1913, I ob- 

 served one on the river flats at Pal- 

 myra, near the Pensanken Creek, near 

 Fork's Landing. 



The Egret is of rare occurence now- 

 adays in this part of New Jersey 

 which is within six miles of Philadel- 

 phia, as very few straggle any more 

 beyond their breeding grounds, al- 

 thougt in former years they occurred 

 annually on the Delaware River and 

 Tributaries in small numbers. 



Richard F. Miller. 



TAXIDERMIST WORK o^Sbk 



M. J. HOFMANN 

 1818 Bleecker St., BROOKLYN, N. Y. 

 Birds, Animals. Game-heads, Rut W*Fk 



