THE OOLOGIST 



A Paddle Down The Nuevas River, 

 November 20, 1909. 



The Nuevas river is a small but 

 winding river which flows through Mc- 

 Kinley, Isle of Pines, Cuba. One Sat- 

 urday, three of us decided to take the 

 boat and paddle down the river a 

 ways to see what birds we could. So 

 we put some extra rope, a small hatch- 

 et, and a heavy hunting knife togeth- 

 er with something to eat and the shot 

 gun. We finally got started about 9.00 

 a. m.. rather late for the best observa- 

 tion. Every turn in the river disclos- 

 ed some new beauties. 



The river is lined on both sides with 

 heavy jungles and royal palms. Sev- 

 eral small rapids and log jams fur- 

 nished excitement as well as novelty 

 to the trip. We paddled down the 

 river for about five miles, rested a half 

 hour and started back about twelve. 

 We had to pole most of the way back 

 because of the swift current. 



Southern, Green Herons, Cuban Ori- 

 oles, Red-legged Thurshes, Cuban 

 Wood Pewees, Anis, and Blackbirds 

 (Ptiloxena atrovolacea 3-4) were com- 

 mon. Cuban Ground Doves, Southern 

 Turkey Buzards, Water-thrushes, and 

 Cuban Grackles were abundant. Three 

 or four Least Bittern, West Indian 

 Mourning Doves, Palm Warblers and 

 Cuban Kingbirds, West Indian Mourn- 

 ing Doves, Palm Warblers and Cuban 

 Kingbirds were also seen. Several 

 Cuban Green Woodpeckers, Louisiana 

 Water-thrushes, together with Cuban 

 (Great) White Heron (1), Little Blue 

 Heron (1), Belted Kingfishers (2), 

 Pigeon (Columba inornata 8-10). 

 White head Pigeon (2), Cuban Mea- 

 dowlark (2), Cuban Pigmy Owl (2), 

 Simpkin (1), Parula Warbler (2-3), 

 American Redstart (1), Cuban Parrot 

 (2), Maryland Yellow-throat (1), Isle 

 of Pines Trogon (1), and Palm Swift 

 (2). 



An alligator was also shot. We re- 



turned home tired, but more than iv.- 

 paid for our work for we had seen 

 thirty species which was not so bad 

 for the late start. 



A. C. READ. 



The Towhee in New York. 



On July 4th last I found a Towhee's 

 nest in a rather unusual position. It 

 was placed about eighteen inches from 

 the ground on, rather than in a low 

 thick sloping bush. I was going 



through a thick piece of undergrowth 

 and came out into an old abandoned 

 vineyard which was then overgrown 

 with sumac, weeds and scrubby bush- 

 es. I saw a nest ahead of me and a 

 bird on it, which at first glance I took 

 to be a Wilson's Thrush, as the nest 

 was placed up from the ground as this 

 Thrush sometimes places hers. But 

 I saw at once that it was a female 

 Towhee. I tried to get a picture of 

 the bird on the nest, but she slipped 

 away before I could get my camera 

 ready, and began to scold me. I did 

 two nice views of the nest, one show- 

 ing just the nest and eggs taken from 

 the side, and the other showing more 

 of the bush, was taken from above. 



The nest was on a steep side hill 

 about 125 feet elevation above the lake 

 in the valley below. 



Verdi Burtch, Branchport, N. Y. 



Bird Accidents. 



I have noticed with interest the ac- 

 counts of bird accidents in the last 

 two issues cf the The Oologist. I too 

 have noticed two bird accidents the 

 past year. One accident is iden- 

 tical with the one described by 

 Mr. DuBcis in the December issue. 

 A robin endeavoring to take a 

 string, that was wound around 

 a limb, to her nest had hopelessly en- 

 tangled its feet. In this instance, how- 



