12G 
ORNITHOLOGIST 
[Vol. 7-No. IG 
with them. Last season I found a set on 
the 15th, witli young just ready to leave 
the shell, and once before on the 18th the 
same; all these were in old Cooper’s 
Hawks’ nests. I never found them in a 
hollow tree, but I once found a set in a 
broad crotch of a large chestnut, where 
four branches converged from the same 
point; but there was no nest, not even a 
leaf.— .T. K. Clark, Old Sayhrook, Conn. 
(Junius A. Brand, of this city, came to 
our office March 19th, and reported find¬ 
ing a Great Homed Owl’s nest a few miles 
out, which contained two young, from one 
week to ten days old. The nest was in an 
immense pine, some fifty feet up. IMr. B. 
has harried this pair for three years in 
succession, but always too late, each season 
finding yoiing in the nest.—Ed.) 
Cost of Importing. —As many of our 
readers have made enquiries in regard to 
cost of importing natural history speci¬ 
mens, we give the following statement of 
actual cost: It appears that there is no 
duty on such specimens. This package 
contained the skin of one Eagle Owl 
(Tiuho maximas) and three sets of eggs, 
and came from William Schliiter, Halle on 
Saale, Germany. Freight and charges to 
New York, 82.47; custom house fees, 
81.00; cartage, .75 ; insurance, .15 ; Stor¬ 
age, .45 ; custom house brokerage. 83.00 ; 
total .87.82, or 82.47 for can-ying the 
package from Germany to New York, and 
85.35 for getting the package from the 
ship to the e.\])ress office in New York. 
So much for the beautiful workings of 
our custom house system. 
American Lono-e.\red Owl. — Averajre 
measurement of thirty-seven specimens of 
tlie eggs of AkIo americanus {Sharpe), all 
I can get at jiresent average 1..59xl.30 
inches. The tlu'ee largest eggs measure 
respectively 1.08x1 31, 1.00x1 38, 1.03x 
1.34, the two smallest 1.52x1.32 and 1.57 
X 1.25 inches — see jiage 81, . Yol. VI. — 
Chan. K. liendlre, U. S. , 1 . 
Death of William B. Dickinson. 
This young and enthusiastic naturalist 
contracted a fever while collecting speci¬ 
mens in the Mulds of Florida which termi¬ 
nated fatally at Palatka, Dec. 19, 1881. 
Y’^oung Mr. Dickinson gave early indication 
of a taste for natimal science, and found 
in his father not only an able instructor, 
but that encouragement which an enthusi¬ 
ast in liis profession can give, so tliat at 
the early age of twenty-three years, the 
time of his death, he ranked among the 
first artists in his line of profession. Be¬ 
ing of a genial disposition and a good 
marksman, he had naturally won many 
friends who muII hear of his death with re¬ 
gret. His relatives and friends, who were 
anxiously awaiting the Spring to welcome 
him home, feel their loss keenly, as he was 
highly esteemed in his native place and 
had won the respect of all who knew him. 
Humming Birds in Confinement. 
One of the most wonderful of nature’s 
beautiful works is the “hummer,” its breast 
covered with irredisent plumage, its wings 
of gauze, hovering hither and thither over 
the bright blossoms, in search of sweets 
hidden in the depths of each corolla. 
When the cup is drained, with a qfiick dart 
he is away to other fields. 
I had often wished to companionize 
them, and was so favored this past Spring 
April 14th. Mliile my son and myself 
were out collecting, he found a nest of the 
Allen hummer, {Selasphoras alleni.) the 
young just about to tly. I carried them 
home and fed them with sugar. After 
three or four days taught them to thrust 
their long wiry bills into a small glass 
vase filled with white sugar syrup, which 
they ate with a rajiid thrusting of tlieir 
long thread-like white tongues, similar to 
the lappings of a cat drinking milk. They 
very soon l<‘arned to go to their cage and 
feed themselves They were allowed to Hy 
