158 



THE OOLOGIST. 



more bold than the rest delivered him a 

 hasty peck on the back when he lost no time 

 in making for his hole. Loud and joyful 

 the sparrows chirped, and placing one on 

 guard fell to with a relish to the oats, they 

 weie not left in peace long for out came the 

 rat again evidently having made up his 

 mind to obtain his share of the oats, again 

 and again the sparrows assaulted him, he 

 paying no heed till getting angry he seized 

 a sparrow and ran to his hole, while the 

 rest flew to the fence and a great to-do fol- 

 lowed, all the sparrows in the neighborhood 

 were called, and as it is very near the Cen- 

 tral Park a goodly array was soon collected, 

 now comes the strangest part of all the 

 sparrows held a meeting and looked around 

 them, an old yellow cat lay asleep on the 

 fence in the sun and all their noise did not 

 trouble him in the least, after another meet- 

 ing they all rose and flew and beat that cat 

 into the yard of Mr. C— they seemed to 

 have lost all fright in their anger, the cat 

 was very much astonished and cowed in a 

 corner, the sparrows flew to the fence again 

 and silence reigned, soon out popped the 

 rat and puss, making one bound, soon had 

 him then the sparrows waited till the cat 

 had slunk away and half pushing half fright- 

 ening him out of the yard, returning they 

 uttered joyous crys and fell to the oats with 

 a good relish. 



L. M.„ N. Y. City. 



[Mr. M. states that not only himself but 

 several others witnessed this interesting oc- 

 curence — Ed. ] 



Large sets 



of the Yellow- shafted 

 Flicker. 



I have read in the Oologist at different 

 times, of large finds of the eggs of this bird, 

 bnt do not remember any which will beat 

 the two finds which I have made. In the 

 summer of '86, while walking through an 

 apple orchard, I noticed a hole in one of 

 the trees aboiit four feet from the ground, 

 and on pounding on the trunk was rewarded 

 by seeing a Yellow-shafted Flicker fly out. 



I stuck my hand in the hole and was sur- 

 prised to feel a large young bird. On closer 

 examination, I found that the nest contained 

 nine young birds, ranging from about a day 

 old up to well-feathered birds and also five 

 eggs, ranging from fresh to pipped. 



Another find was made on May 20, last. 

 The nest was situated in a hole in a Button- 

 wood tree, about thiriy feet from the ground 

 and upon examination was found to con- 

 tain twelve eggs, incubation, well advanced. 

 Who can beat this? Let us hear from you. 

 C. P. K , Vineland, N. J. 



Red Eyed Vireo. 



Although the Red-eyed Viero is a com-' 

 mon resident here, (Fairfield Co. Conn.,) I 

 have not seen hardly anything relating to 

 them in the Oologist. 



They arrive here about the first of May, 

 and their nests are finished about June 15. 



On June 16, '88, I found a nest which 

 contained 2 eggs. On June 19, I visited it 

 again and the nest contained three eggs 

 which I took. The nest was about three 

 and one-half feet from the ground in the top 

 of a small Alder, and as I approached it the 

 bird did not show the least fear, and did not 

 fly off till I was so near I could have touched 

 her. I could see the red in her eyes very 

 distinctly. 



The nest was composed of vegetable fibres 

 bleached to a uniform wood color, caterpillar 

 silk, grass, and lined with fine grasses. 



The eggs were pure white, sprinkled with 

 fine reddish brown dots on the larger end. 



W. L. D. 



The Hermit Thrush. 



The Hermit Thrush arrives here about the 

 middle of April, and the woods and pastures 

 soon resound with its shrill whree-u Being 

 a'bwl of the Canadian Fauna, it is one of 

 the most abundant Thrushes here (in south- 

 ern Maine) excepting the liobin. It usually 

 inhabits the low, moist woods, and places 

 bordering on swamps. Its song, which is 

 heard only for a short time during the breed- 



