140 
ORNITH* 
in rtje greatest veneration, an animal only 
to be\net with in the poems I -had read 
and in tlje pictures I had seen of broken- 
down casHes and ivy-covered walls. But 
here was aVhance to become the owner 
of one of the^e mysterious and much be- 
legende'd animals, and I hastened to be 
the first to hand in an offer of adoption. 
I didn’t find the good lady’s house crowd- 
ed with eager inquirer? as I had expected, 
but found that I was\he only one who 
was “cranky” enough to want to relieve 
the present owner of a vbry disagreeable 
pet. I didn’t look at it in that way at all, 
and marched off rejoicing with the much 
coveted prize. \ 
' When I got home I produced . my pet 
‘ amid exclamations of delight at his 'quaint 
and knowing expression. 
From that moment to the night of !ps 
death he held a warm place in the hear 
of every member of the family, who were 
all great lovers of pets. “Bobby,” as he 
was christened, would sit on the table and 
look into your eyes with such a pathetic 
exoression that, one was constrained to 
11U1UUC1 U1 
eggs in a set varies from five to six. Five 
eggs are most often found and six are very 
rare. 
The ground color of the eggs is a creamy 
yellow, which is marked, as if done with a 
pen, with lines of brownish-purple and here 
and there a blotch of the same color. Some 
eggs are evenly marked over their whole 
surface while others have a thick ring 
around the larger end, leaving the rest of 
the surface thinly marked. A few eggs 
that I have found were spotted with no 
scratches, but I think these are very sel- 
dom found. The measurements vary from 
.606 inches to .701 inches in width by .807 
A Few Observations on the Crested 
Flycatcher. 
The Crested Flycatcher is quite common 
in this district, and as I have taken a great 
interest in these birds, I concluded to form 
a better acquaintance with them this year, so 
I placed a box of the right dimensions in a 
large oak tree in my back yard. The first 
Flycatchers were seen here about April 2 7 . 
On May 13, as I sat on the back porch, a 
pair of Crested Flycatchers came and lit in 
the tree where the box was. From this time 
I watched them carefully. 
I did not see anything more of them until 
May 19. I woke up and looked out to see 
the birds, for I heard them from the tree. 
Yes, they were carrying the first material 
' into the box. By the 2 2d the nest was com- 
pleted to my notion, but the necessary article 
had not yet been found. The box was half 
full of grass, chicken feathers, fish scales, and 
rubbish ; but the snake’s skin was wanting. 
On the 26 th, however, an ample supply was 
found and the nest seemed to be going 
through a renovation, for certain articles 
were thrown out and the snake’s skin put 
instead. After about a double handful was 
added the nest was complete. On the morn- 
of June 2d the first egg was laid, and on 
June 3d another and the third on June 4th. 
This completed the set and the process of 
incubation was commenced. 
The eggs were as heavily marked as any ; 
I have seen, which fact made me wish to 
take them, but I concluded to let them 
hatch and feel amply repaid that I did. 
The female sat the longest on the eggs 
and when she was tired she stepped out on a 
limb, uttered her peculiar cry and flew away. 
The male generally came around before she 
returned, then she would soon relieve him. 
On the 2 1 st of June the eggs hatched and the 
young were fed by both parent birds. The 
time it took to hatch the eggs, as you may 
see, was seventeen days. I don’t know 
whether this is a little fast or slow. The 
young were fed on small grasshoppers, katy- 
dids, and other small insects. 
There were innumerable skirmishes with 
Blue Jays. Each one, however, turned out a 
victory for the Flycatchers. They would dart 
at the Blue Jays in much the same manner 
their cousins the King Birds do. The young 
left the nest on the afternoon of June 1st. 
They remained about the place for some 
days and then left. I think these birds did 
very well to hatch and rear their young 
under such disadvantages, for there was a 
yard of seven cats that watched them very 
attentively, and every bird escaped from their 
clutches. John C. Brown. 
Carthage, Mo. 
0.& O.Vol.18, Sept. 1893 p. 124-126 
