THE OOLOGIST 



105 



ing approached. After dark I began 

 with another volley of candles, and 

 the birds began to realize that there 

 was a determined bombardment in 

 progress. They fled parcipitately, and 

 the third evening only a few returned. 

 A few last shots put them to flight. 

 and I was troubled no more. 



But what do you think those birds 

 did? My dividing fence runs between 

 the trees on my property and the trees 

 on the property of my neighbor, which 

 are equally high and equally suitable 

 for a home for the blackbirds. When 

 the birds were driven from my lots 

 they flew over across the dividing 

 fence to the trees of my neighbor and 

 settled. There was no bombardment 

 over there, and they have stayed 

 there ever since. 



"This was a long time ago, but 

 never since the last Roman candle 

 was fired into them has one of those 

 birds settled on one of my trees. They 

 are "tabooed" as effectually as though 

 they were on fire. The great clouds 

 of birds each morning and evening fly 

 directly over my trees going and com- 

 ing, but not a bird settles upon a tree 

 that is on my side of the dividing 

 fence. 



"Another strange thing is that if 

 any one of an evening stands in my 

 lawn and makes a slight noise, as 

 slapping his hands, there will be the 

 wildest commotion among the birds in 

 the neighboring trees. They become 

 restless and almost panic stricken. If, 

 however, the same person crosses the 

 fence and stands directly under them 

 and makes twice as much noise they 

 pay no attention whatever to him. He 

 can even shoot up into them without 

 driving them from their percher, 



"I have wondered several times just 

 what impression these birds have of 

 me and my property that they have 

 so decidedly given me the cold shoul- 

 der. They know every tree that is on 



my lawn, and will settle within a few 

 feet of the dividing line. Of course, I 

 have not bothered them over there, as 

 they were not my guests." 



N. Y. Press, Dec. 26, 1895. 



COLLECTING WHIPPOORWI LL'S 

 EGGS. 



By S. S. Dickey, Washington, Pa. 



While I was quite a youngster a 

 farmer who lived a few miles south of 

 town, used to bring in sets of whip- 

 poorwills' eggs to my friend, Mr. J. 

 Warren Jacobs. The sight of these at- 

 tractive specimens made a lasting im- 

 pression and ever after gave me an 

 intense desire to find a nest (if nest 

 it could be called) of this peculiar 

 bird. 



Mr. Jacobs and I were often in the 

 woods searching for oological treas- 

 ures, but it had not been my good 

 fortune to be with mk friend when he 

 had collected the eggs of the whip- 

 poorwill. 



One early June Sunday, Wiley 

 Rhoades, a boy who lived near our 

 house, came to the door and said he 

 had found and taken the eggs of a 

 whippoorwill. He had gone out for a 

 tramp in Unk's hollow, a deep wood- 

 ed ravine a mile west of town, and in 

 walking on a leaf covered flat had 

 flushed the bird from her treasures. 



I at once wanted to see the eggs, 

 so we went to his home as fast as we 

 could, where he exhibited the two 

 beauties. But they were already near- 

 ly ruined by pin holes in their ends. 

 Seeing my interest in them the boy 

 gave me these eggs and I placed them 

 in the small collection which was kept 

 in an old spool case. Here they filled 

 a vacancy for several years, and were 

 much prized specimens. 



Season after season I searched 

 through most of our larger woodlands, 

 but seldom saw a whippoorwill, and 

 never found a nest of the seclusive 



