THE OOLOGLST. 



41 



A Moonlight Trip 



After a Nest of the American Osprey 



And Other Interesting Notes. 



I was very busy during the collecting sea- 

 s )ii lant spring and liad but few chances to 

 collect. I knew of an old nest of the Amer- 

 ican Osprey and de'ermined to visit it at my 

 first opportunity. I had seen the Hawks 

 around the nest several times and I thought 

 it must contain eggs. 



One moonlight night a companion and 

 myself rowed across the bay to the island 

 on which the nest was situated. After we 

 had hauled the boat up we started cross- lots 

 for the nest. On the way we found a Crows 

 nest in a cherry tree. 



I climbed up and found upon reaching 

 the nest, that it contained four eggs. I took 

 them and then went on a quarter of a mile 

 further to the Hawks nest. It was situated 

 in the top of a button-wood tree about fifty 

 feet from the ground. I strapped on my 

 climbers and began the ascent, and after a 

 tiresome climb came to the nest. To my 

 delight it cont.-iinsd four fresh eggs. 

 I placed the eggs in my hat, and took the 

 hat in my mouth and thus brought them 

 safely to the ground. I see in * 'Davie- s 

 ('heck List, " that the number laid is usually 

 three. I have frequently found four eggs 

 and on one occasion I found a nest contain- 

 ing five young Hawks. 



I was very fortunate last serson in find- 

 ing full sets. The first find of the season 

 was a set of four English Sparrows on Apr. 

 20 th. The nest with many others, was 

 built in between the sticks in a large Fish 

 Hawks nest. I found a set of six common 

 Crows eggs, five Purple Grackle, eight 

 Black-capped Chickadee, four Green Heron, 

 five summer Yellow Birds, four Black 

 Crowned Night-Heron, seven Belted King- 

 fisher, five Cedar Wax-wing and eight Yel- 

 low shafted Flicker. The Flickers nest was 

 found in the side of an ice-house. The 

 nest was made by hollowing out the sea- 

 weed used to pack the ice in. I had to rip 

 off a board to obtain the eggs. 



C. M. W. Aldrich, Greenport N. Y. 



Not a Birds Nest. 



One day last spring, a fellow collector and 

 myself were out collecting in a thickly 

 wooded ravine. I had climbed a tree for a 

 Wood Thrush's nest, when I spied a rather 

 large nest in an adjoining tree. 1 pointed it 

 out to my companion and he straightway be- 

 gan to climb for it. When I had descended, 

 he had pretty near reached the nest. He was 

 so anxious to see what was in the nest that 

 he put his hand into it as soon as he could 

 reach it. He took it out a great deal faster 

 than he had put it in; so much so in fact 

 that he nearly fell from the tree. 



His hand was not all that came from the 

 nest, for it was followed by two half grown 

 flying squirrels that tumbled ' 'pell-mell" to 

 the ground. I caught them without diffi- 

 culty, as they were to young to escape; and 

 they afterwarde became very pretty pets. 



Their nest was an old Blue Jay's filled with 

 leaves. My chum said he could not imag- 

 ine what in the world he had put his hand 

 into when he felt that ball of fur; and I 

 guess the squirrels did not like his intrusion 

 either, from the way they acted. 



Charles Hepburn, Fort Scott, Kan. 



Two-Storied Nests of the 

 Meadow Lark. 



Noticing the inquiry of Walter D. Porter 

 of Jefferson Wis. relative to two-storied 

 nests of the Meadow Lark, in your issue of 

 Oct. and Dec. 1887. I desire to relate a 

 similar incident. In July 1886, I found a 

 nest of the Meadow Lark, in a low and wet 

 piece of meadow land, double or two-storied, 

 with four eggs of the Meadow Lark, not in- 

 cubated but spoiled. A second nest had 

 been built within and above the one con- 

 taining the eggs, but at the time of my ob- 

 servation no eggs had been laid in the up- 

 per nest, or they had been taken out bj T 

 some one else. 



Near the same place, and about the same 

 date, my Father found a double nest of the 

 Meadow Lark, with the egg of the cow-bird 

 in the lower nest and a set of incubated eggs 

 of the Meadow Lark in the upper nest. 



Lorie P. Akers, Des Moines Iowa. 



