THE OOLOGIST. 



41 



Suddenly out shot Madam's head 

 backed by about eight pounds of in- 

 dignant turkey and Mike went back- 

 ward and sat down real hard. He had 

 not been expecting this kind of re- 

 ception and it came as a great shock 

 and surprise. He sat and collected 

 his scattered ideas; then wiggled his 

 fingers and was delighted to find them 

 in working order. Convinced that no 

 bones were broken he turned to the 

 problem of separating Madam from 

 her oological collection without further 

 unpleasantries. A solution was pre- 

 sented in the form of a dead sapling. 

 When pried from the nest her turkey- 

 ship refused to stir and Mike had to 

 push her away with the pole. The 

 nest contained eight of the handsom- 

 est eggs he ever saw. His feelings, as 

 he packed the set and started for home 

 are left to the reader's imagination. 

 Before leaving the woods he met a 

 farmer. It is one of his characteris- 

 tics that he can not keep a good thing 

 to himself. He immediately decided 

 to enquire regarding wild turkeys and 

 when told they no longer inhabited 

 that section intended to spring the 

 glad surprise. The sun was shining 

 so Mike started in with the informa- 

 tion that it was a pleasant day. The 

 farmer reckoned it was and thought it 

 did not look like rain. Then Mike in- 

 quired in a casual off-hand way: "Any 

 wild turkeys in these woods?" "Guess 

 not," was the reply, "but my turkeys 

 all come in here to nest and it keeps 

 me busy looking them up. Am going 

 to a nest now to tote the whole outfit 

 to the farm. It is partly under a brush 

 heap near a beech and I had trouble in 

 finding it but speaking of wild turkeys, 



now forty years ago " But Mike 



suddenly recollected he was in a hurry. 

 When out of sight he started on a run 

 and did not pause until the brush pile 

 was reached. Here he found Madam 

 patiently incubating the empty nest. 

 He wasted no time but pried her off, 



replaced the eggs and got out of the 

 neighborhood. Then he sat down, 

 clasped his tired head between his 

 trembling hands and tried to think it 

 all out. The only thing at all clear 

 was the presence of a colossal chump 

 and he bumped his head against the 

 nearest tree and went home. The 

 above is as Mike told it except the 

 weight of the turkey, his estimate being 

 100 pounds. 



J. Claire Wooff,- 

 Detroit, Michigan. 



About Some Songs. 



ROBIN VS. ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK. 



Ask some ornithological friend 

 which song he prefers, the Robin's or 

 the Rose-breasted Grosbeak's. With- 

 out hesitation he may reply, "The 

 Grosbeak's of course." Ask another 

 friend and he may answer as readily, 

 "The Robin's is the better". We 

 shall blame neither. Taste is un- 

 accountable, not dependent on the in- 

 trinsic value of the thing in question, 

 but the object plus the personality of 

 the one who chooses. Therefore hav- 

 ing my own opinion, it will be hard to 

 secure an unbiased verdict concerning 

 the beauties and excellences of the 

 two songs. 



The general trend of ornithological 

 writings seems to be somewhat depre- 

 catory to the robin, while the general 

 trend of opinion from investigation 

 made in my locality seems to favor 

 him. Have the writers of books the 

 keener sense, perception and more 

 matured judgement? Or does this lie 

 with the multitude that do not endeav- 

 or to express themselves in written 

 language. Let us consider a few spec- 

 imens. Chapman writes, "The song 

 of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak is gen- 

 erally compared to that of the Robin, 

 and musical annotation would doubt- 

 less show that the comparison is not. 



