ORNITHOLOGY 



369 



The Only Mountain Plover in New 



England. 

 We are indebted to the Boston So- 

 ciety of Natural History for the use of 

 the accompanying cut of a mounted 

 plover recently acquired by that so- 



"ONLY MOUNTAIN PLOVER KNOWN TO HAVE BEEN 

 TAKEN IN NEW ENGLAND." 



Enormous Number of Robins 

 The immense concourses of passen- 

 ger pigeons, remembered by many now 

 living and so graphically described by 

 Wilson, Audubon, and other early or- 

 nithologists, are common knowledge. 

 But that the robins of 

 America are today far 

 more numerous than the 

 passenger pigeons ever 

 were, and that many other 

 species outnumber them 

 also — perhaps three to 

 one — is not generally ap- 

 preciated. The gregar- 

 tousness of the pigeons, 

 causing them to unite in 

 a few great flocks, made 

 the number much more 

 manifest than do the scat- 

 tered small bands and in- 

 dividuals of other birds. 

 Yet when we reflect that 

 robins nest over an area 

 extending at its farthest 

 limits from Mexico to the 

 Arctic ocean and from the 

 Atlantic to the Pacific, 

 and that in much of this 

 vast territory they are 

 fairly crowded, it is easy 

 to conjecture what an 

 immeasurable army they 

 would make if gathered 

 into one flock.- — Henry 

 Oldys in "Bird-Lore." 



ciety. Mr. Glover M. Allen, the Sec- 

 retary, writes as follows : 



"The cut of the plover represents 

 the mountain plover (Podasocys mon- 

 tanus) lately acquired by this society for 

 its mounted collection of the birds of 

 New England. It was killed at North 

 Beach, Chatham, Massachusetts, in 

 October, 1916, and fortunately came 

 into the possesion of one that recog- 

 nized it as something unusual. It is 

 the only mountain plover known to 

 have been taken in New England. Its 

 normal breeding range is in the far 

 West, from Montana to northern New 

 Mexico. It Avinters from northern 

 California to central Mexico." 



The expenses of the New York Zoo- 

 logical Park and the Aquarium amount 

 to about seven cents for each visitor. 



Truth. 



BY C. R. PIETY, SCOTTSBURG, INDIANA. 



Iconoclast am I: 



The icons I delight to kill; 



The ichor I rejoice to spill; 



With pride I view the mangled mess, 



And scorn the utter helplessness 



Of spurious gods that lie, 



And die. 



Mankind I liberate; 



Wizards and witches I enthrall; 



The ghosts and goblins, elves and all 



The apparitions, good or bad, 



I strip of every charm they had, 



And slay at Reason's gate — 



Just fate, 



Heaven and earth are mine; 



And Nature knows no Zodiac 



With spell o'er garden, flock, or pack; 



No lucky or unlucky day; 



But only an eternal sway 



Of wholesome laws — divine, 



And mine. 



