THE OOLOGIST. 



12! 



the 13th of July, when I was working on a 

 shingle tree and kept hearing its humming 

 noise in a certain tree till I resolved to inves- 

 tigate I found the nest situated on the limb 

 of a small Black Oak about forty feet from 

 the ground. It was a very pretty nest and 

 contained two young. 



Besides the Birds above mentioned the 

 Pileolated Wood-pecker, Whip-poor-Will, 

 Chuck-wills-wiilow, Blue-Gray Gnat-catcher 

 and many other small rare birds make this 

 their home. 



C. E. P. Pinnacle Mt., Ark. 



The Purple Martin. 



This social and half-domesticated bird 

 arrives from the south early in May. Its 

 summer residence is universally among the 

 habitations of man, who having no interset 

 in his destruction, and deriving consider- 

 able advantage as well as amusement from 

 his company, is generally his friend and 

 protector. Wherever he comes he finds 

 some hospitable retreat fitted up for his 

 accommodation and that of his young, 

 either in the projecting wooden cornice on 

 the top of the roof or sign post, in the box 

 apropriated to the Blue Bird. 



Some people have large conveniences 

 formed for the Martin, with many apart 

 ments, which are usually fully tenanted, 

 and occupied every spring, and, in such 

 places, particular individuals have been 

 noted to return to the same box for suc- 

 cessive years. 



Wilson says in regard to this bird, ' 'I 

 never met with more than one man who 

 disl ked the Martin, and would not permit 

 them to settle about his house. This was 

 a penurious, close-fisted German who hated 

 them because, as he .said, 'they ate his 

 pease. ' I told him he must certainly be 

 mistaken, as I never knew of an instance 

 of Martins eating peas; but he replied with 

 coolness, that he had many tines seen 

 them himself 'blaying near the hife, and 

 going schnip, schnap, ' by which I under- 

 stood that his bees were the victim, and not 

 the peas, which charge could not be denied. 



Its nest is constructed of anything at 

 hand, leaves, twigs, straws, bits of string, 

 rag and paper,. Its eggs are pure glossy 

 white, pointed at one end, annd measures 

 from .95 to 1 in. in lenght by .68 in. in 

 width. The eggs are from four to six in 

 number. 



B. W. M. , Amesbury, Mass. 



Black Snowbird. 



(J unco hyeimdis. ) Scl. 



The Snowbird is a winter resident here, 

 arriving about Oct. 20th, before cold 

 weather has fairly set in, and immediately 

 becoming abundant, swarming about 

 brushy hedges, waste fields, and other 

 places where food can be plentifully obtain- 

 ed. The first snow or cold snap usually 

 sends them to the neighborhood of houses, 

 where they become very tame, entering 

 stables and out-houses to pick up seeds and 

 crumbs which may have been dropped 

 there. It is in such situations that they 

 spend the coldest portion of the winter, 

 retiring into holes in hay-stacks in severe 

 weather. 



They are usually in large straggling 

 flocks on their arrival, but these soon split 

 up into smaller parties, which roam about 

 from house to house in search of food, 

 flying in a peculiar, jerky manner, the 

 white on the tail showing conspicuously at 

 aach impulse. Although as above noted, 

 they are usually found in at this time of 

 the year in small parties, I have sometimes 

 seen large straggling fiocks, usually with an 

 admixture of Tree Sparrows, drawn togeth- 

 er by a common cause — food. 



Towards Spring, there being now no 

 occasion for staying near houses, these 

 small flocks reunite and form large ones, 

 which, however, loiter well into April 

 before moving north ; when they do, their 

 place is supplied by birds which have 

 wintered further south, so that Snowbirds 

 may be commonly found until the last 

 week in April. I saw a single straggler on 

 May 3rd of this year , in company with 

 some White-throated Sparrows. 



