5« 



The Hawxete Ornithologist and Ooi.ogist. 



was in a locust tree — and suspended 

 as it was, among a bunch of leaves, it 

 was next to impossible to see it. I 

 discovered it by watching the bird. 

 One string in the nest was over five 

 feet long. It was wrapped again and 

 again around a limb, then tothencst, 

 woven down one side under the bot- 

 tom and up the other side to the rim 

 where it was securely fastened. 



The eggs are white, with blackish 

 spots and scrawls irregularly distrib- 

 uted over the surface, especially 

 toward the larger end. The average 

 size is 1.00x.65, according to Coues; 

 .92x.65 according to Davie. I consid- 

 er the latter more correct so far as it 

 applies to eggs taken here. 



The bird is known by the various 

 names of fire-bird, golden robin, 

 hang nest, etc., besides the one given 

 above. 



DEATH OF PROF. CHAS. LINDEN. 

 Correspondence by Ph. Heinsberger. 



Prof. Charles Linden, instructor in 

 natural history at the Buffalo High 

 School, died in that city, of acute 

 mania on Feb. 3. 



Prof. Linden came to America from 

 Breslau, Germany, twenty-five years 

 ago as a sailor, and was engaged as a 

 seaman on the great lakes when his 

 knowledge of natural history became 

 known and the charge of the collec- 

 tions of the Society of Natural Sci- 

 ences was given him, after which he 

 took his position in the High School. 



The Society sent him abroad every 

 summer, visiting in turn Brazil, 

 where he secured many valuable 

 birds, South America, Hayti, and the 

 Southern States. In 1879, while ex- 

 ploring the coast of Labrador, he was 

 shipwrecked and put ashore by a 

 rescuing vessel. It was his custom 

 to send everything new to him to the 

 Harvard Museum. He was an au- 

 thority on ornithology, and a writer 

 of many valuable articles on that 

 subject. 



THE LARGEST OF ITS SPECIES 



A HINT TO OUR GOVERNMENT. 



The biggest American eagie m lut 

 tTnited States roosts in the state house in 

 this city. It is the property of Mai. E. J. 

 Anderson, the state conaptro'Jer, and its 

 i-oostiug place is on an imitation rock in 

 the window of his private office. The 

 bird measures seven feet and eleven inches 

 from tin to tip of its wings, and it is so 

 tall that if it were alive and standing on 

 the ground it could pick off a man's waist- 

 coat buttons without getting on tiptoe. 

 The profusion of little fluffy feathers on 

 the under sides of the wings, the peculiar 

 markings of the breast, and the depression 

 in the top of the beak are evidences of the 

 great age to which the bird had attained 

 before it was killed. Those skilled in 

 such matters estimate that it must have 

 been at least 75 years old. It is a genuine 

 Washington or American eagle, and prob- 

 ably its only rival in the country, dead or 

 alive, is at the Smithsonian institute at 

 Washington, but the specimen there is 

 smaller. 



The graceful yet powerful pose of this 

 bird and the magnificent sweep of its 

 wings show clearly how great a libel upon 

 the bird of freedom is the atrocious litture 

 that attempts to soar over the bundle of 

 sticks on the back of the buzzard dollars 

 of the present day. If the government 

 will send an artist to Trenton it can ob- 

 tain a model from which it can make a 

 dollar that will not bring the blush of 

 shame to the cheek of every American 

 who has to spend it. 



Mnj. Anderson's eagle was shot in 

 Hunterdon county, in this state. The 

 bird is one of the most rare in the country, 

 and it is scarcely ever even seen near the 

 haunts of civilization. It is supposed that 

 advanced age had made this bird unable 

 to successfully purine and capture the 

 game of the wilderness, and that there- 

 fore it had ventured into settled regions 

 for tamer prey. It was found near a 

 farmer's barn, and the farmer filled it fuil 

 of lead from a shotgun and a revolver 

 without killing it, and finally captured it 

 alive, having disabled it by wounds in 

 the wing. It was taken to the village 

 station, and lived there on exhibition a 

 day or two before it died. It was then 

 given toMaj. Anderson, who had it stuffed 

 and mounted, and guards it now with the 

 tenderness and pride of a young father. 

 He has refused for it offers running well 

 into the hundreds of dollars.— Trenton 

 Cor. New York Sun. 



