Song Birds and Water Fowl 



been found in the interstices of an osprey's 

 nest. Another peculiarity of these hawks is that 

 in the fall they often repair and strengthen 

 their nests, in evident anticipation of the 

 severe weather at hand. These successive ad- 

 ditions of material sometimes result in a per- 

 fectly enormous building, as in the case of one 

 found at Plumb Island, Conn., that was seven 

 feet high, and from six to eight feet across. 



Our familiar "flicker," or golden- winged 

 woodpecker, is esteemed a great luxury by Jer- 

 sey hunters; and their method of decoying 

 them is peculiar. I noticed, here and there, 

 in the scrubby woodland, a very long dead 

 branch projecting slantingly upward from near 

 the top of a tree, looking half artificial, half 

 natural — a clever device for the accommodation 

 of flickers, which, in migration, pass over this 

 region in great numbers and in fat condition. 

 Arriving in the night, they find these conspic- 

 uous perches very alluring for resting places, 

 and are shot in the early morning. They roost 

 so close together that sometimes several will be 

 brought down at one discharge. There is so 

 much rivalry among hunters in capturing this 

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