Correspondence. 



Editor of 0. & O. : 



Wliile looking in swamp, May SOtli, I found 

 eight nests of Parula "R^blei-, all in clumiJ of 

 spruce trees in a I'adiiis of five rods. The nests 

 are beautiful little structures, and were almost 

 entirely' concealed with the long moss of which 

 they wei e made. 



While in the same swamp the following 

 week I heard tlie note of a male Scarlet Tan- 

 ager, and as I wanted a specimen I followed 

 the sound and got directly under the tree, 

 which was a large chestnut on a knoll near 

 edge of swamp. 1 again listened for the note. 

 I did not have to wait long for it was a rainy 

 moi'ning and the Tanagor was happy, but I 

 looked of course for our bright red bird, and 

 when I saw what looked to be a Baltimore , 

 Oriole with the notes of a Tanager I rubbed 

 my eyes and looked again, but that did not 

 change the color of the bird; but with a charge 

 of dust shot I was soon examining what I 

 thought a conundrum. It was certainly a 

 Scarlet Tanager, but its plumage still puzzles 

 me. It was badly shot in head so I could not 

 mount it, but made a poor skin of it. I send 

 you feathers from its breast and back. Its ' 

 gs are of a faded black. Its outer tail 

 feathers on outer edge are near a bronze. 

 What do you think of it, is it an albino? 



J. W. Jackson. 



Belchertowii, Mass. 



[Immature male.— £■(!.] I 

 ©SQ.ZVI. March. Ifigi, p, 77 



On the 17th we arose early and had wandered 

 leisurely along, securing a few small birds, un- 

 til about ten o'clock when we came upon an old 

 mossy orchard of which many of the trees had 

 decayed and fallen or had been toppled over by 

 the winds. Here we found the Parula ^yilrbler 

 {Oompsothlypis americaiia) in abundance, sing- 

 ing and flitting about from limb to limb and 

 tree to tree in great merriment. As I stood 

 gazing up among the mossy branches I saw 

 what proved to be a Ijeautiful and well con- 

 cealed globular nest composed of usnea moss, 

 with which the tree was litentlly covered. It 

 was hanging about nine feet above the ground, 

 lined with a few horsehairs and bits of down, 

 and contained two newly laid eggs. We also 

 found many other nests in different stages of 

 completion. On the 21st I found another nest 

 of this species containing a set of four eggs, 

 attached to the twiggs of a small alder bush 

 two feet above the ground over a pool of water 

 about a foot in depth. These are the first in- 

 stances that 1 have known of this bird's breed- 

 ing so early in the season in Massachusetts, 

 never before having found a full set before the 

 first of June. 



& O. XIII. Feb. 1888 p. 30 



'[two "sets of Blue. Yellow-backed Warbler 

 O.AO. VII. Oct. 1882. p. /fc^. 



Blue Yellow-backed Warbler's Nest. 



Some time ag-o Mr. Twogood of Putuam, ■ 

 Conn., -presented us with the nest of a Blue 

 Yellow-backed Warbler that is very unu- 

 sual in shape, and the finding- of it was so 

 peculiar that we think it best to place it on 

 record. It will be noticed that Mr. Two- 

 good was not acquainted with the bird or 



OLOGIST 



[Vol. 8-No. 2 



The Taxidermist Show is postponed un- 

 til May 4, to be held in New York city. 



White-winged Coot. — Fred. T. Jencks, 

 Prov., R. I., reports a White-wing Coot, 

 probably Albinistic. 



OuE Check List Incomplete. — It is an- 

 nounced that an Englishman has arrived 

 in New York with twenty-eight Ostriches 

 to be used in Ostrich Farming. As the 

 addled eggs at least will be thrown upon 

 the market it will be necessaiy to amend 

 onr check lists. If not. whv not I 



I climbed the tree but could not see into 

 the moss, so I pulled it down and found 

 it was a bird's nest. The limb from which 

 I took the nest was about fifteen feet from 

 the ground. The nest is a single piece of 

 moss twenty inches long and about two 

 and a half wide in the widest part. The 

 entrance to the nest is eight inches from 

 the top and two inches in depth. The 

 eggs, four in number, were so far advanced 



