152 



THE OOLOQI8T 



A VANISHING GROUSE 



According to a recent census taken 

 by Professor A. O. Gross of Bowdoin 

 College, and Commissioner W. C. 

 Adams, whose report to The State De- 

 partment of Conservation is now in 

 course of preparation, a rather seri- 

 ous condition exists at Martha's Vine- 

 yard. 



Of the fifty Heath-hens left on the 

 Island today the majority are males. 

 The reservation superintendent re- 

 ports that the flocks placed under the 

 care of the State of Massachusetts has 

 fluctuated considerably from year to 

 year. It has numbered into the hun- 

 dreds during recent years and at other 

 periods not far distant the drove has 

 been almost depleted, as it exists 

 today. 



However, no previous investigation 

 has revealed such an alarmingly small 

 percentage of females among this 

 peculiar species of isolated Grouse. 



Let us hope some satisfactory 



plan will develop for perpetuating the 



noble fowls, which seem to be making 



a desperate fight against extinction. 



Gerard Alan Abbott, 



Port Allegany, Penn. 



lining and I believe these pests 

 despoiled the nest and chased away 

 the Chippies. 



Richard F. Miller, 

 Philadelphia, Penn. 



UNUSUAL NESTING SITE OF THE 

 CHIPPING SPARROW 



On May 20, 1918, at Charter Oak, 

 Huntingdon County, Pa., I found a 

 new Chipping Sparrow's nest in an 

 old Hairy Woodpecker's winter-roost 

 hole, about ten feet from the ground, 

 in a dead upright limb on a living 

 apple tfe« in an orchard. It was 

 placed -at - th* ' bottom of the cavity 

 which was six inches deep. 



A week latter I was chagrined to 

 find the nest empty and deserted; the 

 lining was mussed up and there were 

 two English Sparrows' feathers in the 



FRIEND MORSE EMULATES 

 "YE EDITOR" 



While 1 was lying on my back with 

 a broken hip, 1 had intended all along 

 to give you some account of our trip 

 to New Mexico. Mr. G. E. Pilquist 

 and 1 toured through Texas and New 

 Mexico, then returned through Okla- 

 homa. We had a very pleasant trip 

 going down and collected many fine 

 sets but after arriving at Carlsbad, 

 New Mexico I had only one and one- 

 half days collecting when I had the 

 misfortune to get a fall which laid me 

 up for ten days before we started back. 

 Mr. Pilquist, I think, intends to give 

 you a detailed account of our trip, so 

 1 will not dwell on it. 



1 had my nephew, Mr. Edgar Lang, 

 of Carlsbad, New Mexico, drive my car 

 back as Mr. Pilquist does not under- 

 stand anything about a car. When I 

 reached home after four days enroute 

 I called my doctor and had an examina- 

 tion. He was not entirely satisfied so 

 ordered X-ray made of injury. This 

 disclosed pelvis bone broken in two 

 places, one low down in groin, the 

 other higher up so I was ordered to 

 bed on my back for five or six weeks 

 anyway. This happened the 13th of 

 June. 



I am resting very nicely now and in 

 a nice way to recovery, if I don't in- 

 jure it again, if I do I will be a cripple 

 the rest of my days. 



Mr. Pilquist would not climb any 

 more trees after I got my fall, but the 

 nests were so profusely scattered 

 about that he and my nephew's boy 

 (12) kept me busy preparing speci- 



