(Continued from 1st page.) 

 secure a great many singles, those in the 

 center of the nest being allright, while 

 those around the outside are badly 

 burned and cooked. 



The Prairie Hen is resident here. 

 During severe winters the greater part 

 of them leave this immediate vicinity 

 and go to the Little Sioux river, ten 

 miles west of here, where they are bet- 

 ter protected by the trees. Sometimes 

 when the snow is deep they will burrow 

 in it after food or else lor protection 

 from the cold. John V. Choke, 



Marathon, Iowa. 



BIRDS OF EASTERN NORTH 

 CAROLINA 



Chaetura pelasgiea (Linn.), Chimney 

 .Swift. — These stately little birds add 

 greatly to the beauty of a summer eve- 

 ning by sailing and twitering around 

 and around the house-tops until sunset, 

 when they all join blether and ss.il 

 around once or twice twitering with all 

 their might, and then repair to some 

 neighboring chimney to pass the night. 

 I do not think that these birds ever 

 '•light" on a tree; they gather sticks 

 while on the wing, flying swiftly by 

 and catching a dead limb in its mouth, 

 gives it a sudden twitch, breaks it offar.d 

 carries it down the chimney and fastens 

 it with saliva glue. The eggs are pure 

 white and do not differ materially from 

 Lank Swallow eggs. 



Trochilus colubris (Linn.), Ruby- 

 throated Humming-bird.— The only rep- 

 resentative of this beautiful family east 

 of the Mississippi is quite common here, 

 and their graceful form may be seen in 

 our gardens any summer evening. 



Tyrannus carolinensis (Linn.), King- 

 bird, Bee Martin. — The king of birds 

 exercises his authority to an unlimited 

 extent in this locality. He meets with 

 no opposition whatever, from any of the 

 birds and receives the protection of man. 



while sitting pearched on some tip-top 

 bough and looks around as much as to 

 say: "I'm monarch of all I survey." 

 They build their nests in exceedingly 

 difficult places to get at, and lay four or 

 five speckled eggs. 



Myiarchus crinctus (Lynn.), Crested 

 Flycatcher. — This species is frequently 

 mistaken for the Wood Thrush by the 

 so called, "jack leg" ornithologists of 

 this locality. The eggs of this species 

 have no semblance to those of any other 

 species that I have seen. These birds 

 seem to be partial to cast off snake skins, 

 one or two of which can nearly always 

 be found in the material which compose 

 the nest. 



Empidonax acadicus (Gmel.), Acadian 

 Flycatcher. — I am not positive as to 

 whether this species is a resident or not, 

 but it may be frequently met with in 

 the summer along the shaded ravines 

 where it builds its nest in the long fes- 

 toons of moss and lay two, three or four 

 cream colored eggs, finely dotted with 

 chocolate at the large end. 



Cyanocitta cristata (Linn.), Blue Jay.— 

 This noisome bird is not represented 

 here as well as it might be. They are 

 influenced by the crop of beech nuts and 

 acorns, of which they are very fond, and 

 in consequence of which *hey are very 

 common some winters while in others 

 you scarcely see one. 



(To be continued.) 



J. W. P. Smithwick, 



Sans Souci, N. C. 



THE COMMON CROW. 



On the twentieth of last July, a friend 

 and I went swimming; but instead of 

 going in at the usual place we walked 

 about two miles up the Raccoon river. 

 That day we had very good luck and we 

 took many sets of eggs. 



Well, when we got up a ways we saw 

 a crow on the very top of a big elm tree 

 that stood on the other side of the river. 



