THE OOLOGIST. 



119 



I shall give the account just as I re- 

 corded it in my diary the day after the 

 event. 



July 12, 1906. — Yesterday morning 

 I went after my Mississippi Kite's 

 nest. Elmer Monahan took his gun 

 and a rope. I had Prof. Parmenter's 

 gun, a saw and a lot of string. Leav- 

 ing our things back a ways from the 

 tree, I sent Elmer out east where he 

 could get a shot when the female bird 

 flew off; as she had done, when I 

 scared her before. Then I went around 

 to the west. I was half afraid that 

 some one had headed me off and had 

 gotten the eggs, but when I came 

 around from behind the hedge tree 

 that shuts off the view of the nest 

 from the south, I was assured' by the 

 sight of the tail sticking back over the 

 edge of the nest. Then when I came 

 full-under the nest she flew out to the 

 east, just right for Elmer to get a 

 shot. He missed the first time; and 

 shot again. Looking through the \ 

 leaves, I had seen ber go toward the 

 east and thought he had missed the 

 second time; and then, when I saw a 

 bird soaring up above the tree tops, I 

 got ready to shoot and was just on ' 

 the point of pulling the trigger when • 

 Elmer shot and brought it down. It , 

 proved to be the male bird; and while 

 he went in search of the female, I 

 caught it. After he found the female, 

 he came over to the place where I had 

 captured the male. It was winged and 

 wa? in fighting mood. When Elmer 

 reached for it, it made a grab for his 

 hand and sank its claws deep into 

 one of his fingers'. We had a hard 

 time getting it loose. After he had 

 tied the legs of his captives and fast- 

 ened them to some dogwood bushes, 

 we went after the eggs and nest. 



"I climbed up eagerly, and when I 

 had ascended; I found that the second 

 egg had been laid. It was a pretty sight, 

 the two white eggs lying in their bed 

 of Amorpha leaves. It repaid me for 



my climb of sixty feet. The nest was 

 built of sticks, some of them a bit lar- 

 ger than a lead pencil, and a few 

 pieces of corn shucks, an occasional 

 bark fibre, and here and there a 

 downy feather and lined with green 

 Amorpha fruiticosa leaves. In size 

 it was very small, being about half as 

 large as a crow's; and there was hard- 

 ly a sign of a cup to it, more like a 

 saucer. 



I took the eggs out and putting them 

 in my hat, started down. Elmer offer- 

 ed to meet me; but I told him I'd bring 

 them down. "If you'd break them, I'd 

 never forgive you," I said, "and if I 

 break them there will be no one else 

 to blame." With the eggs in the crown 

 of my hat and my hat firniily set on 

 the top of my head, I climbed down. 

 Each time the eggs rubbed together 

 or came in contact in my hat, a semi- 

 shiver ran down my back for fear that 

 they might be broken. At last, my 

 treasures safely lying on some cotton, 

 again I "shinned" up the tree. 



Taking from my pocket some string 

 and the long wooden needle, I had 

 brought for that purpose, I began to 

 sew up the nest. Weaving the cord 

 in and out, sewing the green-leaf lin- 

 ing securely in and wrapping the nest 

 about and through and in and out with 

 about twenty thrusts of my needle, 

 which I had whittled out before we 

 started, I soon had it done. Then I 

 let down a large cord to which Elmer 

 fastened the saw. Hanging the saw to 

 a limb, I sent the rope clown again 

 and brought up the hundred-foot rope 

 Elmer had brought. Next I sawed off 

 the limbs quite a distance above the 

 nest. Then tying the rope about the 

 big limb on which the nest rested, and 

 arranging the rope over a limb so that 

 Elmer could keep it from breaking 

 off and falling too hard, I sawed away. 

 The limb on which I was standing 

 was the one on which the nest re- 

 posed. If it should just bend over and 



