26 



THE OOLOGIST. 



cealing the hole, I left the set while I 

 hunted elsewhere. On returning about 

 half an hour later was surprised to 

 find but three eggs. The birds had 

 discovered the hole in the egs: and 

 perceiving that it was worthless (to the 

 birds) they promptly removed it. How 

 I am not prepared to say. The remain- 

 der of the set was collected. I dare say 

 Mr. A's friend would suggest that the 

 bird ate it. 



Had I time to consult my note book 

 I could cite many interesting cases re- 

 lating to bird removing egg? from 

 their nests. Any reader of the Oologist 

 knows how the eggs are removed. 

 This is an interesting subject, little 

 known and probably unanswerable. 

 Let's hear from you readtr. 



Richard F. Miller, 

 Philadelphia, Fa. 



Nest and Ecgs of Pileated Woodpecker. 



This bird is quite rare in this local- 

 ity. They only can be found in the 

 largest bottoms. On April 12, 1902 I 

 and my brother started for a large bot- 

 tom in the Navasota River in Brazos 

 County in search of different specimens 

 of birds. Going about 5 miles in the 

 bottom we came to a large dead elm 

 stub some 14 feet high, it had "several 

 large holes in but they proved to be 

 old homes of these beautiful birds. 

 We kept on going and soon we came 

 to another large dead stub about 15 

 feet high. In going around it I 

 noticed a large hole some 11 feet up. 

 The ground was covered with chips of 

 rotten wood and bark. We rapped on 

 the trunk of the tree several times but 

 failed to bring anything in sight, so I 

 thought it would be a very good idea 

 to climb it. My brother strapped on 

 his climbing irons, as I am not much 

 of a climber. He was about 2 feet from 

 the ground when the beautiful female 

 bird left her home with a loud cackling 

 voice. He was soon to the hole find- 



ing it large enough to insert his hand 

 and arm, it being about 2 feet deep. 

 The nest contained 3 very beautiful 

 glossy white eggs, one of them was in- 

 cubated but the other two were entirely 

 fresh. 



I suppose the readers of the Oologist 

 know how happy we felt as this was 

 the first set of these eggs we have ever 

 taken, but in a short time we did not 

 know ourselves where we were at as 

 we got lost about 5 hours and did not 

 get home until night. 



I fell down some 5 or ten times but 

 as luck happens I did not break any 

 of the eggs. This set is in my cabinet 

 now and never to be taken out. 



A. D. Doerge, 

 Navasota, Texas. . 



Do Something. 



A physician says: "If you cannot 

 find pleasure in the study of the many 

 wonders that surround you, if you 

 care not for geology, natural history, 

 or astronomy, collect walking sticks, 

 buy and cherish old, cracked china, 

 fill up albums and scrapbooks or even 

 gather together autographs and post- 

 age stamps— anything sooner than be 

 idle." The doctor is undoubtedly 

 right, for true recreation requires a 

 thorough change of work and also of 

 thought.— Ex. 



EDITORIAL. 

 Review. 



Vol. I, No. 2 of the Universal Ex- 

 change Magazine, Belvidere, 111, is a 

 decided success. Well printed on good 

 paper and the Directory of Collectors 

 periodicals is alone worth a years sub- 

 scription. 



The current issue of "The Condor" 

 is XXX as usual but of special in- 

 terest is the Editorial Comment on 

 Ernest Thompson Seton's position on 

 page 181. "Bird Lore" for December 

 1904. Unfortunately we can not spare 



