80 



THE OOLOGIST 



A PRIZE 



It is not the practice or the poiicy 

 of the Oologist to offer prizes or prem- 

 iums, however, we are authorized to 

 offer a premium of a duplicate post- 

 card illustration, similar to the one 

 published in this issue of the three 

 young birds in a nest to all of our 

 subscribers who successfully guess, be- 

 fore the next issue of the magazine, 

 what these birds are. 



The Editor. 



ACADIAN FLYCATCHER 



In looking over some old record 

 books of the years that have gone by 

 (when collecting was good), I found 

 opposite the Acadian the word "Er- 

 ratic," written. So 1 said to myself 

 I will write this up; so 1 went over all 

 the old records I could find, and to 

 my amazement 1 found several of 

 my books were missing, as I will show 

 later on. 



This interesting specie arrives with 

 us about the 15th of April, and com- 

 mences to build early in May and up 

 to late in June; the reason I use the 

 word, erratic, is because it is a wan- 

 dering bird; some years you will find 

 them quite common, then again sev- 

 eral years may elapse before you see 

 or find them again. Where they go, 

 or where they come from I am unable 

 to say. Most of our breeding birds 

 come back to the old breeding ground 

 every year, but not so with the Acad- 

 ian. 



The nest is built along lonely roads; 

 it is a very loose affair, made of weed- 

 flores placed between the fork of a 

 drooping limb at a height of 4 to 30 

 feet, and some are so high that you 

 can't get them. The nest is such a 

 frail affair that the eggs can be seen 

 through the bottom. 



In a period of over 36 years, my 

 records show the following, 1887 to 

 1892, I took no eggs— 1893-94-95-96-97-99 



and 1900 all my records were lost, so 

 the following years are as I find them 

 on my books: 



1901, May 19th, 1/3. 



1901, May 24th, 1/3. 



1901, June 8th, 1/2. 



1902, June 8th, 1/2. 



1902, June 21st, 1/3. 



1903, May 31st, 1/3 

 1903, June 3rd, i/3. 



1903, June 11th, 1/3. 



1904, May 13th, 1/3. 

 1904, May 21st, 1/3. 

 1904, May 28th, 1/3. 



1904, May 30th, 1/2. 



1905, May 19th, 1/2. 

 1905, May 23rd, 1/3. 



1905, June 20th, 1/2. 



1906, May 16th, 1/3. 

 1906, May 26th, 1/3. 

 1906, May 27th, 1/3. 

 1906, June 3rd, 1/3. 

 1906, June 18th, 1/2. 



1906, June 30th, 1/2. 



1907, May 12th, 1/3. 

 1907, May 26th, 1/3. 

 1907, June 1st, 1/3. 

 1907, June 16th, 1/2. 



1907, June 27th, 1/2. 



1908, May 20th, 1/3. 

 1908, May 31st, 1/3. 



1908, June 3rd, 1/3. 



1909, May 30th, 1/2. 



1910, none. 



1911, none. 



1912, none. 



1913, May 20th, 1/2. 



1914, none. 



1915, none. 



1916, none. 



1917, none. 



1918, June 15th, 1/3. 



1918, June 28th, 1/2. 



1919, none. 



1920, none. 



1921, June 18th, 1/2. 



1922, none. 



I have found that the same condi- 

 tions exist in Camden County, further 



