60 



NATUEAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



But this spring I have seen very lit- 

 tle of Sialia sialia. 



W. S. Colvin, 



Osawatomie, Kans. 



I can heartily agree with my 

 Brother Ornithologists in regard to 

 the late arrivals of our Spring birds, 

 and also, the great scarcity of the 

 Bluebird, which seems to be less 

 abundant at present, than it was 

 when it first made its appearance 

 in this locality. The Bobolink 

 seems to be on time. I first heard 

 his jingling notes on April 30. 

 But where are the snakes? I have 

 not seen one this spring up to the 

 present date, May 1, nor have I 

 heard of any one who has. 



Did the^y freeze so hard that they 

 could never resurrect: or has the 

 ghost of St. Patrick visited our Am- 

 erican Continent? 



I am longing to again be scared 

 by a snake, on some of my rambles, 

 it would seem so natural. 



James B. Purdy, 

 Plymouth, Mich. 



We nave always called the Blue- 

 bird common in this county until 

 this year. But although I have 

 looked for it since March 1st, I 

 have not seen one, and I have been 

 in the woods from 2 to 4 days every 

 week; and over a large track of land. 



Three have been reported as seen 

 this spring, one, a male, on March 

 5th and a pair was seen on April 

 29. 



Robins were never more abund- 

 ant and Am. Goldfinches, Sparrows, 

 Swallows, Swifts, Martins, Kill- 

 deers, Flickers, Brown Thrashers, 

 and Blackbirds are here in goodly 

 numbers, but late in arriving. 



Wm. F. Shaw, 

 Ithaca, Mich. 



Seeing the comments in Natural 

 Science News of April 27 about 

 Bluebirds. I would say, it seems 

 queer to me how few in number 

 they were last year and this year — 

 yet last fall I saw many of them 

 while in the woods, but yet do not 

 hear them near houses as I used to 

 when a boy — and my boys' little 

 bird houses fail to be occupied by 

 them while when Iwasa boy — every 

 old cigar box, etc., — yes dry sum- 

 mer squash shells I could find were 

 fixed and hung up and the Bluebirds 

 occupied them all, and more would 

 have been if I had had more 

 houses. 



Does the Sparrow (English) 

 drive them back to the hollow trees 

 in the woods, where they nest, if 



not why so many in the fall? First 

 one I saw this year was April 10. 

 A. D. Aver, M. D. 



Madison, Conn. 



He is usually the very first of 

 our feathered friends to arrive; 

 even before the Robin had been 

 noticed his rich, soft notes used to 

 be heard from the tops of the tall 

 poplar or his bright blue mantle be 

 seen gliding through the orchard to 

 visit his last year's nest, and in 

 former seasons they were by this 

 time mated and busy preparing 

 their summer residences. 



This season they are absent. I 

 have heard of one or two isolated 

 individuals being seen about the 

 end of March; but I have not seen 

 one, and do not know of a single 

 pair being located near Hamilton, 

 where tney used to be so generally 

 distributed. 



As it would be quite interesting 

 to know how far their change of 

 habit extends, and what has led to 

 it, I hope some of your readers may 

 be able to throw some light on the 

 subject. 



For the past few years there is 

 no doubt tbat the English Sparrow, 

 by appropriating their boxes, have 

 driven them from about our houses; 

 still, they have been common 

 throughout the country until this 

 spring, when they have failed to 

 appear. 



T. MgIlwraith, 

 Hamilton, Ont. , May 1, 1895. 



"What has become of the Blue- 

 bird" is an interesting question to 

 all bird lovers. Ten to fifteen years 

 ago they were among the first 

 spring arrivals, and year after year 

 5 or 6 pairs nested in our back 

 yard in boxes set upon poles and 

 in the smoke house and woodshed, 

 and they were never disturbed by 

 the egg crank, or the small boy, 

 but raised their brood in peace and 

 departed to warmer climes' But 

 a greater enemy has come in the 

 shape of the English Sparrow. 

 At first it was a tug-of-war, and 

 the Bluebirds fought bravely for 

 their homes, but with all the help 

 we could give them with the shot 

 gun they had to give up the battle. 

 Last year one pair came and nest- 

 ed in a hole in an apple tree, but 

 the Blue Jays picked them out one 

 by one as soon as they were hatch- 

 ed. This spring I have not seen a 

 Bluebird, and this is the first of 

 May. 



Irene L. Cass, 

 Maumee, Ohio. 



Spring Messengers. 



Old Winter with his chilly breath, 

 His cold white robes of snow, 



Has passed away and in their place 

 The grass and llowers grow. 



Though once the earth was clad in 

 white, 



'Tis now in green arrayed, — 

 Its lovely dress by the deft hands 

 Of Mother Nature made. 



The cowslip and the daisy, 



Are peeping from the ground; 

 The violets are blooming, 



In beauty all around; 

 The vines are climbing upward, 



Toward the smiling sun, — 

 All Nature is rejoicing, 



That Winter's race is run. 



The birds are merrily twittering 



In orchard, rield and grove, — 

 The Bluebird and the Robin, 



The Linnet and the Dove, 

 The Meadowlark and Brown Thrush. 



The Sparrow and the Wren,— 

 All the glad messengers of Spring — 



We welcome them again. 



Geo. J. Remsbuug. 



Intestinal Obstruction in "Som- 

 ateria dresseri. 



Saturday, April 22nd, I obtained 

 a fine specimen of American Eider, 

 female, and upon examination found 

 that in the abdomen was a large 

 "lump," over which the feathers 

 were rumpled and displaced and in 

 places missing, leaving the abdo- 

 men bare. A little curious I open- 

 ed the abdomen during the skinning 

 process (and in fact couldn't help 

 it for the intestines were so firmly 

 adherent to the abdominal walls) 

 and to my surprise found a solid 

 lump of "mussel" shells measuring, 

 two and one-half inches in diame- 

 ter and weighing three quarters of a 

 pound. The shells were held to- 

 gether by a gelatinous substance 

 which had hardened ; and the whole 

 mass was stained with bile. The 

 outer coats of the intestines were 

 firmly adherent to the abdominal 

 walls as a result of inflamation 

 and although perforation of the in- 

 testine had not taken place, it un- 

 doubtedly would have done so 

 shortly. The mass was situated 

 about two inches from the pyloric 

 orifice of the stomach, and judging 

 from the extensive adhesions form- 

 ed, must have been situated at the 

 same place for at least two weeks. 

 The bird otherwise seemed to be 

 in perfect health and judging from 

 the fact that at the time of shooting, 

 it was flying as well as any of the 

 rest of the flock; we may safely 

 assume that the vitality of this 

 species is something remarkable. 

 C. C. Purdum, M. D. 

 Woods Holl, Mass. 



