130 
The Naturalists’ Companion. 
C0RRESP0.1VDEJVCE. 
On the nth of February I found a nest 
of the Texan Screech Ow] in which 
were a set of five eggs. 
Geo. J. Benson, Galveston, Texas. 
Last spring I found a Crow’s nest con¬ 
taining eight eggs. Is not that an un¬ 
usual number? H. Conklin, Erie, Pa. 
Yes, it is. Five eggs compose a set. 
On the loth of last June I found 37 In¬ 
dian arrow-heads, 8 spear-heads and a 
hatchet, besides numerous fragments of 
pottery, while collecting near this place. 
F. N. Bath, Carlisle, Penn. 
The winter of 1880-81 I secured 123 
cocoons of the Promethea moth, 87 of 
the Polyphemus moth and 62 of the 
Cecropia moth, nearly all of which 
hatched. A. G. King, Brockport,N.Y. 
I always go collecting ground-birds’ 
eggs on a rainy day, as the birds are 
always on the nest then, and when flush¬ 
ed fly directly from it. 
Fred S. Hunter, Geneva, N. Y. 
While out collecting last spring I 
found a Yellowbird’s nest about half a 
foot high, containing five fresh eggs. 
Some time later I took the nest a part 
to find the cause of its being built so 
high. I found that it was composed of 
two separate nests, one being built upon 
the other. In the lower nest I found 
one Yellowbird’s and three Cowbird’s 
eggs. C. S. Minten, Oneida, N. Y. 
We hope our readers will not be back¬ 
ward in contributing to this column as 
it is our desire to make it the leading 
feature of the paper. Make the notices 
as brief as possible, and to the point. 
There is no reason why our readers 
should not find plenty of notes to send 
in as it is now coming on the collecting 
season when they will discover many 
curious objects worthy of mention in 
these columns. Let us hear from you 
all, both great and small. 
FRA UDS. 
Beware of E. G. Harlow, Lynn, Mass. : 
'This person is the lowest and meanest of 
frauds and should be shunned by every 
honest collector. We sincerely regret 
that we have been ‘‘taken in” by him 
and allowed his advertisement to soil : 
the columns of our paper. We ho]je ! 
none ol our readers have been swindled 
through it, yet should they have had that 
misfortune they will confer a favor on 
the editor by giving him the pai ticulars. 
We will be more on the alert for such 
vultures as he in the future. 
Publishers, beware of A. H. Ham¬ 
mond, Waieham, Mass., and Paul Gold¬ 
smith, Oakland, Cal., they aie advertise- 
ing dead beats. 
Subscribe instantly. 
Read all the advertisements this issue 
and see if there is not something you 
need to complete your collections. 
The coming agent of power, is natural 
gas. This is to be the power of the nine¬ 
teenth century’s industry, d'he regions 
of New York, Pennsylvania, West Vir¬ 
ginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois 
and Michigan are daily producing new 
“wells.” In Indiana especially, the 
capitalists are taking hold of this matter, 
and wells are to be drilled in various 
parts of the state just as soon as the 
weather permits. New^ York, as ail 
know, has long used natural gas as a 
heating agent, even as early as 1824, 
when the village of Eredonia used it as 
such. 
