16 



THE SUNNY SOUTH OOLOGIST. 



the bottom of a hollow in the tree on 

 the decayed wood. Now, I have never 

 found one that did not make an at- 

 tempt to build a nest. I have found 

 several, ranging from two to forty feet 

 from the ground, and in ever}^ case a 

 nest was built, composed of fibrous 

 roots, pieces of hanging moss, hair and 

 feathers mixed together. The nests 

 were built in a hollow^ in a decayed 

 tree, from one foot to three feet deep. 

 The nest is ver}^ loosely put together, 

 and it is impossible to remove it with- 

 out cutting the cavity open to the bot- 

 tom of the nest. A gentleman in 

 California, who is well versed in Or- 

 nithology and Oology, who I wrote to 

 in regard to it, says his knowledg*^ and 

 experience has been in almost every 

 case, that a nest is attempted by this 

 bird — the description of a nest taken 

 b}^ him in Orange county, Fla., some 

 years ago is — the nest was composed 

 of pieces of fibrous, decaj^ed wood, 

 small scales of pine bark, wings of 

 pine seeds, and a little woolly vegeta- 

 ble material arranged in cup form. 



G. Noble, 

 Savannah, Georgia. 



A Bird's Sagacity. 



For the Sunny South Oologist : 



The folio winof little narrative oe- 

 curred at my old home in Kentuck}^ 

 some years ago : I had placed over 

 the roof of my house a bird box, and 

 for several years the martins had oc- 

 cupied it, and I think the same pair 

 came back every year, for the male 

 appeared larger and had a coarser 

 voice (?) than any others I had ever 

 heard. 



This spring of which I speak, the 

 blue birds had taken possession of the 

 box, and one morning while out for a 

 little fresh air T heard the welcomed 

 voice of the martin in the distance. 

 I turned to see from where the voice 

 came, and saw the old friend coming 

 alone. He came directlv to the bird 

 box, and appeared very much sur- 

 prised to find it occupied, so at once 



began an attack upon the inmates, but 

 the little birds were too much for the 

 old martin, and he had to give up to 

 them. (But this was only for a short 

 time.) So he flew to a neighboring 

 roof, and sat there for a time as if 

 meditating what to do, and then flew 

 in a direct line toward the south from 

 whence he had come. The little blue 

 birds seemed to congratulate them- 

 selves upon their victory, but they 

 were too soon, for the next morning 

 at about the same time, I heard the 

 voice which seemed to say ''pitch in, 

 pitch in," and I knew he was coming. 

 Upon looking I saw him in the lead 

 with about a dozen other martins fol- 

 lowing. I waited to see his purpose, 

 and was not long in finding it out, for 

 he flew direct to the bird box, and 

 perching himself on the top gave the 

 orders, "Pitch in ! pitch in !" and they 

 did pitch in from both sides. 



* 



^ 



•Sf- 



* 



It is needless to say how it termi- 

 nated, for the old martin and his mate 

 raised a brood that year, and came 

 year after year until I came west. 



L. L. Howard, 

 Gainesville, Texas. 



A Georgia paper says that before 

 the war there was a bird in the south 

 that fed exclusively on cockle-burrs. 

 At a certain season of the year these 

 birds would sweep down on the fields 

 and when they departed not a burr 

 remained. The smell of burnt and 

 burning powder for foui* years seems 

 to have been too much for the burr- 

 eaters. Since then not a bird of the 

 kind is to be found in the south ; but 

 the burrs are here yet. 



Early Finds. 



I think I will enter the lists in 

 competition for "earliness." I opened 

 the ball on Januar}- 30th, 1886, b\' 

 taking a set of three of the Great 

 Horned Owl, incubation advanced. 

 Who can beat it? 



The followinof are the earliest takes 



