156 



THE OOLOGIST. 



American Redstart. 



This beautif ul little bird though not com- 

 mon here, is occasionally found breeding in 

 favored haunts. 



It likes woodlands, damp and dry, thickets, 

 wooded banks of streams and occasionally 

 orchards. It seeks its food in the tree tops, 

 plunging after the insects as only a Kedstar 

 can, sometimes even turning somersaults. It 

 is admirably suited for its occupation and if 

 it could only be induced to live nearer our 

 dwellings it would do a work which some of 

 the cc minor) er ones, as the Pewee and Fly- 

 catcher and Kingbird cannot. 



The nest is a handsome cup shaped affair 

 made of vegetable fibers, horse hair, straws 

 and down. It is generally placed in the 

 upright fork of a tree not very far up, 

 though they might build high as it would be 

 very easy to conceal it there. The eggs are 

 from 2 to 6 in number, and average .63 by 

 .48; greenish or grayish white, spotted 

 around the larger end, chiefly with brown or 

 lilac. 



E. P. C, Wauwatosa, Wis. 



A Tame Hummingbird. 



During this last summer a pair of Puby- 

 throated Hummingbirds have frequented 

 our garden and during one hot day the fe- 

 male bird got into our conservatory and did 

 not know how to get out again. I went in 

 and plucked a handful of flowers and held 

 them up and to my surprise the bird darted 

 down and sipped the honey from the flowers 

 in my hand. I did this several times during 

 the day and at last it got so tame that it lit 

 on my shoulder and then new on to my 

 hand where it sat and took the honey from 

 the flowers. I caught it and let it out into 

 the yard where it soon joined its mate. Sev- 

 eral days afterward I stood in the garden 

 watching them and I plucked some flowers 

 and held them out. The bird came quickly 

 and resumed its former tactics of the con- 

 servatory. It has since repeated it several 

 times. They have not departed from our 

 garden yet, although we have . had some 



very cold weather. 



Is not this rather late for hummingbirds 

 to migrate if they are going to at all? Please 

 answer through the Oolog-ist. 



C. P. K., Vineland, N. Y. 



Two Large sets of Quail Eggs. 



In the winter of 1886 having made an 

 aviary and quail run combined, covering in 

 all a piece of ground 7x10 feet square, I 

 caught a pair of California Quail, Lophortyx 

 Californica, and put them in it. 



On June 2, 1887, the female began to set 

 on eleven eggs, she having laid six others in 

 various parts of the cage. Twenty-four clays 

 later she hatched out eleven young only six 

 of which lived to become full grown. 



In the spring of 1888 I took out all but 

 two pairs. 



On May 1, two eggs were laid and by 

 May 27, thirty- one. By July 2, fifty-five 

 eggs had been laid, when, as the quail had 

 stopped laying and showed no signs of set- 

 ting I took all the eggs. 



On July 7 one of them began to lay again 

 and by July 18, was sitting on eleven eggs. 



The eggs of each quail are readily distin- 

 guishable from the fact that one lays blotch- 

 ed, and the other finely dotted eggs. One 

 laid 25 eggs and the other 41 . Perhaps 

 this is the effect of semi-domestication. 



J. V. D., LosGatos, Cal. 



A Pleasant Excursion. 



About Sep. 1st 1887. my chum H. P. 

 and I agreed to spend a day among the 

 feathered inhabitants of Peoria Marsh, name- 

 ly, the ducks. About 3 a. m., much to my 

 annoyance, I felt a tug a my foot. My 

 chum, knowing by experience on other 

 similar occasions that my propensity for 

 sleep in the "wee sma hours" was great, had 

 advised me to attach a string to my ankle 

 and hang the end out of the window. Hav- 

 ing thus been aroused, we were soon making 

 our way toward our boat house laden with 

 two breech-loading shotguns, a Winchester, 



