THE OOLOQIST 



14d 



wonderful part of it was, that it was 

 tailless. Also it was a very rare bird 

 from the type locally known as 

 Beautiful Bunting from Miraflores. 

 Have taken quite a few of the Cape 

 birds and will soon send a shipment. 

 Outside of a few mosquitoes, and some 

 of the refinements of the State, I am 

 very comfortable. Have an ideal place 

 to work and have collected sixty spe- 

 cies and noted over a hundred. Col- 

 lecting is rather difficult, the birds 

 being exceedingly shy, and long walks 

 are necessary, and it is about all I can 

 do to get nine or ten laid away each 

 day, except Sunday, when I rest. Prob- 

 ably will be here about six weeks, then 

 go up to the higher mountains. Don't 

 know exactly where, but hope to re- 

 main in the Cape Region a year. Liv- 

 ing is quite high here, which surprised 

 me greatly, and good things to eat are 

 hard to procure. 



Opportunities for such desirable 

 outings come only to those who have 

 demonstrated their integrity, skill and 

 ability in the line of such collecting. 

 The Editor. 



THE BLUE GOOSE 



Half a dozen rare Blue Geese were 

 lately presented to the Royal Ontario 

 Museum, Toronto. Their donors are 

 the members of the St. Anne's Island 

 Duck Shooting Club, on the St. Clair 

 River. No less than fifteen Blue 

 Geese were killed at the Club last 

 fall. 



The birds are the same size as the 

 Lesser Snow Goose, and have red 

 beaks and feet and white heads and 

 necks. The back and body of the 

 Blue Goose is the delicate blue grey 

 shade seen in the fur of the blue fox. 



The birds are very destructive, pull- 

 ing the grass on feeding ponds right 

 up by the roots. 



Walter Raine, 

 Toronto, Canada. 



FROM THE PAGE OF AN OLD 

 DIARY, 1874. 



From the page of an old diary of 

 one of my brothers, for August 15th. 

 1874, I read the following: "Stayed 

 at home and done up my chores and 

 cleaned off and watered my horses, 

 and it was half-past six o'clock, and 

 then I took the gun and went down 

 along the creek a hunting and I shot 

 eight pigeons." 



He helped draw up wheat and when 

 he got that done he says "1 took the 

 gun and went down along the creek 

 a hunting, and I was gone until six 

 o'clock and got four pigeons." 



Just think of it, twelve pigeons in 

 one day. He says "It was a warm, 

 pleasant day." 



The gun he mentions is an old- 

 fashioned double barreled muzzle 

 loader, which I have in my antique 

 collection at the present time. I was 

 less than four years old then. 



George W. H. vos Burgh, 



Columbus, Wis. 



