90 



THE OOLOGIST. 



succeeded another with startling fre- 

 quency. 



I did not wish to harm the hawks, but 

 as the fourth dive nearly carried away 

 my hat and inflicted a slight scratch 

 on my ncek, I promptly resolved to 

 bring Madam Hawk to book, and in the 

 next dive she encountered a bullet 

 which just grazed her wing. She took 

 no notice of that however, but the next 

 shot sent some of her brown feathers 

 floating on the morning breeze, and 

 she wisely concluded to give up the 

 unequal battle, and contented herself 

 with circling overhead and screaming 

 lustily. 



By dint of hard climbing, I reached 

 the nest ; it was composed externally 

 of sticks, and lined with grass, leaves, 

 etc. The five eggs which it contained 

 were a typical set ; a sort of bluish 

 grey, thickly speckled with spots and 

 lines of light brown. Although one 

 might reasonably suppose that the 

 hawks would fight more for their young 

 than they would for their eggs ; as be- 

 fore stated, they offered not the slight- 

 est opposition in 1900 but fought fierce- 

 ly for their eggs in 1901. Possibly 

 they had decided to turn over a new 

 leaf with the new century. 



[Sets of 5 eggs of this bird are rare. 

 Ed.] 



Some Rare Finds this Season. 



While walking in the woods where 

 Great Blue Heron's nest, I picked up an 

 egg of the Heron that had fallen from 

 75 to 85 feet, landing with its point 

 down and sticking in a mulch of leaves 

 and soft dirt and in its downward course 

 it passed through some underbrush, all 

 without breaking. 



I report also of taking 1-4 Osprey. All 

 eggs are light in color but one egg in 

 particular is white in appearance at a 

 little distance. Another set of 1-3 Os- 

 prey. One egg a runt, about one half 



actual size. This is the only runt of 

 Osprey I have heard of. 



A set of supposed Screech Owls that 

 take the exact measurements of Saw- 

 Whets. They measure as follows : 

 1.19x100, 1.20x100, 1.19x100, 1.20x1.00, 

 1.23x97. Saw- Whets were never known 

 to build this far south although they 

 have been killed here. If I collected 

 the eggs I would know for a certainity. 

 WM. B. CRISPIN, 



Salem, N. J. 



If Mr. Crispin will send one egg of 

 this set to the Editor it may be worth 

 while. The eggs of Saw Whet Owl are 

 distinct. — Ed. 



Birds Removing Eggs from Nests. 



It was with great pleasure that I 

 read Mr. Richard F. Miller's interest- 

 ing account about the removal of eggs 

 from a disturbed nest and his criticism 

 of my statements made in a previous 

 number of this paper. Mr. Miller is 

 undoubtedly right in his criticism, the 

 eggs were probably removed by the 

 parent birds but the devouring of eggs 

 by the owners of the nest is not as 

 preposterous as Mr. Miller evidently 

 thinks. Mr. F. M. Chapman, in his 

 book, 'Bird Studies with a Camera' 

 gives a most interesting account of the 

 eating of some Least Bittern's eggs by 

 the old birds when once the nest was 

 disturbed. But enough of this, and to 

 return to the subject of my article, t 

 will state that I also have noted several 

 instances upon this subject. These 

 chiefly come under the heading of Wil- 

 son's Thrush, Turdus fuscescens. This 

 bird is extremely sensitive and if a 

 single egg or two is taken from the 

 clutch the old birds immediately desert 

 the nest, first destroying the remaining 

 egg and carrying the shell away. I 

 have noted this fact several times. In 

 finishing, I will echo Mr. Miller's con- 

 cluding words, and say, "Let's hear 

 from you, reader. " 



CHAS. P. ALEXANDER. 



