84 
ORNITHOLOGIST 
ORNITHOLOGIST 
—AKD— 
OOLOGIST 
A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED 
TO THE STUDY OF BIRDS, THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 
JUS. .11. It A HE, Editor, 
S. L. WILLARD, Assistant, 
With the CO operation of able Ornithological 
Writers and Collectors. 
Subscription— $1.00 per annum. Foreign sub¬ 
scription $1.25 —including postage. Speci¬ 
men Copies Ten Cents. 
JOS. .11. tv A It E. 
Nor»vi«‘h, Conn. 
Entered at N'orioidi, P, 0. ae Second Claes 7natter. 
Bird Surgery. 
During the present fall Mr. Benjamin 
Earle, of Providence, shot two birds, with 
broken legs, and both wounds carefully and 
thoroughly dressed with feathers. The 
first one taken, a “ Green-headed Plover,” 
had its leg broken, which it had carefully 
bandaged with feathers, as we are assured 
by Mr. Earle, the feathers being wrapped 
around the leg carefully. The second bird 
shot was a Woodcock, which was saved for 
the writer, the leg of which has been pre¬ 
served. It was broken below the knee, and 
thoroughly dressed with feathers, and the 
wound was healing nicely when the bird 
was again shot and the same leg again bad¬ 
ly broken above the old wound. This is 
no accidental dressing, but shows evidence 
of skill and understanding.' 
- - 
Those Cuckoos. 
In another part of this magazine will 
be found a very interesting article on the 
breeding of our two cuckoos in the same 
nest. The fortunate observer of this 
peculiar freak, Dr. H. A. Atkins, of Locke, 
Michigan, is one of * the unpretending 
but thorough observers of our present 
time. Each trip to this nest cost him three 
miles of travel, and when a man past the 
middle age of life will take such trouble, it 
[Vol. 6-No. 11. 
shows that he is thoroughly in earnest and 
that his observations can be relied on. He 
is possessed of a large fund of knowledge 
of this kind, which we hope to draw on i 
frcm lime to time. i 
Rose-breasted Grosbeak. —Our inter- ■ 
esting pet commenced shedding his head i 
feathers Nov. 24th, and at this writing, Dec. r 
16th, his head is two-thirds black, which 
change has been made almost impercepti- i 
bly. He has not yet cast any of his larger 
feathers. It would be interesting to know 
if these birds make a complete moult in their 1 
I winter home in the south as this bird has 
, done in the cage for the past three winters. 
j Publications. 
I Dr. Codes’ New Check List. — .^t our 
' request we have been furnished with ad¬ 
vance sheets of Dr. Coues’ New Check List 
of which we shall have something to say in 
our next issue. 
Diary of a Bird. —We have received 
from Mr. Minott a copy of his “ Diary of a 
Bird” and have read it several times. It is 
brief but interesting. The bird is made to 
tell the story, which it does in a very pleas¬ 
ing way. and a very observing bird he must 
have been. The book contains matter that 
is interesting, and much food for thought. 
We always read with interest anything 
from Mr. Minott’s pen, for he is an earnest, 
honest observer of nature. 
I 
Birds Nesting. —We have received a 
circular announcing the publication of a 
work, with the above title, by Ernest In- 
gersoll, and [lublished by Geo A. Bates. 
We are informed that two numbers are al- 
I ready issued but we have not seen them, 
j We hope Mr. Ingersoll will make this work 
1 as accurate as he can make it interesting. 
.Addition to our Collection. —We 
have received from Mr. Edgar Small 
an oil painting of a Sharp-shinned Hawk, 
and from Mr. S. L. Willard a water color 
drawing of a Chimney Swift. For want of t 
\ room we defer notice to next number. 
