THE OOLOGIST 



79 



I 



This drawing doesn't pretend to por- 

 tray nature with any degree of accur- 

 acy, neither is it nature-faking, but it 

 provides that desirable element with- 

 out which great enjoyment may be 

 lost. And so, you see, there is quite 

 a chance for amusement as well as 

 pleasure and instruction in this game. 

 Karl A. Pember, Woodstock, Vt. 



"TIMING A SCREECH OWL" 



Lots of us wonder, well, how long 

 will it be until there will be a full set. 

 I timed the Screech Owl as follows. 

 Found Screech Owl in a hollow tree 

 March 1st. Went back March 24th, 

 found one egg. I said to myself, "Well, 

 I will come back, let's see. Yes, the 

 28th for a set of five." Back again the 

 28th, but only two eggs. Back again 

 the 31st but only three eggs. This 

 sounds like to me it took Mrs. Owl 

 seven days to lay two eggs. Back 

 again in April, still 3 eggs, collected, 

 all fresh. Ramon Graham, 



Ft. Worth, Texas. 



THE MURRELET 



The Murrelet, Volume IV, No. 1. 

 January, 1923. This most interesting 

 little publication came to our desk, 

 filled from cover to cover, as usual, 

 with real fresh, crisp bird news. In- 

 cluding among other things, Avafauna 

 of Minindoka County and adjacent 

 territory, by B. W. Davis. Haunts of 

 the Swainson's Warbler, by Thomas 

 D. Burleigh. Birds of the Bellingham 

 Bay Region, by J. M. Edson, besides 

 numerous pages of shorter articles and 

 miscellaneous bird notes. 



R. M. Barnes. 



SHORT-BILLED MARSH WREN IN 

 CANADA 

 I have just been thinking of a short 

 trip I had last summer, about three 

 miles from home to an old wet meadow 

 or pasture of about fifty acres in ex- 

 tent; the time was about the first of 



June. On entering the meadow. I 

 flushed a Savanna Sparrow and found 

 a nest with five nicely colored eggs, 

 and a little farther on a Bobolink's 

 nest with six eggs, while looking 

 closely in the rank marsh grass I 

 heard a sound which I took to be the 

 song of a Long-billed Marsh Wren, 

 and on gettiing a little closer to the 

 bird I was surprised to see it was a 

 Short-billed Marsh Wren. I spent fully 

 a half hour looking for the nest, as 

 this species is very rare in this local- 

 ity; in fact I have never heard of 

 anyone finding them nesting here. My 

 patience was at last rewarded by 

 finding a well woven nest of green 

 grasses, within two inches of the 

 ground, in thick, coarse grass, well 

 hidden. It contained six pure white 

 eggs, but sorry to say they were 

 chipped and about to hatch. However, 

 I looked for more nests, but found no 

 more with eggs, although I visited 

 the meadow three or four times after. 

 In all, I found seven nests, but no more 

 with eggs. 1 suppose they were decoy 

 nests, like the Long-billed Marsh Wren 

 delights to fool us with. I look for- 

 ward to finding a set or two for my 

 collection this summer. I also found 

 three sets of Bronzed Grackle, placed 

 on rafters in an old barn on the prem- 

 ises, while pine and spruce trees were 

 growing near by. H. B. Bingham, 



Barrie, Ontario, Canada. 

 April 5th, 1923. 



WHY? 



At the sale of the John Lewis 

 Childs Library, in New York City, 

 March 26th and 27th, a fully paid-up 

 subscription to "The Birds of Cali- 

 fornia," Format de Luxe Patron Loan 

 Edition, including the two parts al- 

 ready issued, by William Leon Daw- 

 son, was sold at auction, for fifty dol- 

 lars, R. M. B. 



