II IK 00L0G1ST. 



ifil 



squirrels. When lie took his hand out three 

 squirrels came floating ou the air to the 

 ground, nnd I caught them very easily aud 

 put them in my coat pockets and pinned the 

 japs down, so they were safe. Then my 

 friend got a twig and poked in the hole and 

 out came another squirrel which caught a 

 branch of another tree nnd got away from 

 us. He poked again and another sailed to 

 the ground sol caught it. My friend, after 

 hesitating a few moments, felt for the eggs, 

 but they were gone so we supposed the 

 Squirrels had eaten them. We each took 

 two squirrels home with us and then a 'his- 

 tory followed, but I will leave it out as it 

 would not likely be of interest to the orni- 

 thologist or oologist. 



The Flickar arrived here on April 10th 

 this year, and has been quite plentiful since 

 that date. 



A D., Simcoe, Ont. 



American Crow. 



Thus far this season I have taken three 

 sets of the Am. Crow. The first 

 was taken April 6 and contained 4 eggs, 

 fresh. The nest which was composed of 

 leaves lined with horse hair, was placed in 

 the top of a small burr oak 20 feet up. On 

 April 1-1 took a set of 4 eggs. This nest was 

 also in an oak. The eggs are a very light 

 green heavily spotted with brown, dark 

 green and black. On April 16 took a set of 

 5 eggs. The nest which was in a small oak 

 was composed of grape vines and lined with 

 hair. This is by far the finest set I have 

 seen they look at a distance as though they 

 were a solid dark green color. The crow 

 comes here very early in the spring but stay 

 in flocks and do not pair until the last of 

 March. Ai ound here they are quite com- 

 mon. 



E. P. C, Wauwatosa, Wis. 



Carolina Parakeet. 



The nesting habits of this bird are not 

 very well known as I have never read any- 

 thing of it in any natural history papers. 



The first time I ever met with this bird was 

 in the summer of 1880. After a days col- 

 lecting I was coming home and I saw a par- 

 ty of boys digging at something in the brok- 

 en siding of on old ice house. I asked them 

 what they were digging after when one put 

 his hand in and brought out a bird, It look- 

 ed something like a screech owl without the 

 ear tufts. Its plumage was red. The boys 

 called them "chin pipers," and I did not at 

 first know them but afterwards I identified 

 them as the Parakeet. The next year I de- 

 termined to secure some of their eggs. I 

 went to the ice house and saw that there 

 were several holes in the side that looked as 

 if they had been gnawed by a rat or squirrel. 

 Thinking these to be the nests I procured a 

 ladder and at once climbed up. I was met 

 at the hole by Mrs. Parkeet who immediate- 

 ly flew off. I secured 2 sets of two eggs and 

 1 set of three eggs I found the eggs to be 

 of a greenish white color and about 1.38x1.00 

 in size. They are rough and chalky in 

 texture and are laid far back in the hole, 

 sometimes 5 and 6 feet. They breed in 

 companies and where you find one nest 

 you are .likely to find several. The birds are 

 about the size of a screech owl and on the 

 backs and wings are a rusty red color under- 

 neath they are dusky white. Hoping to 

 hear from oologists on the habits of this 

 bird, I remain. 



T. S., Clarinda, Iowa. 



Black-capped Chickadee. 



My pleasantest oological find for the sea- 

 son of 1887 was the finding of my first nest 

 of the Black-capped Chickadee, on May 4. 

 About a week before while passing down a 

 wood road through a large piece of woods, 

 on a botanical excursion, I frightened a 

 Black-cap from a small stump. On examin- 

 ation I found a hole 6 or 7 inches deep had 

 been excavated by a pair of the little birds, 

 and a few days after found the hole nicely 

 lined and one egg laid. In all seven eggs 

 were laid but I placed then in my box with- 

 out blowing them and although well wrap - 

 pedin cotton I found on reaching home that 

 some of them were broken. This is the 

 first nest which I have heard of being found 

 in my vicinity, although the birds are com- 

 mon. B. L,, Mason, Mich. 



