THE OOLOGIST 



23 



NEWS ITEMS. 



Two Snowy Owls were shot January 

 3, 1910, at Holley, New York. 



One almost perfect Albino Ruff 

 Grouse was seen by Harry R. Warren 

 early in January, 1910, at Holley, New 

 York. 



We are in receipt of an invitation to 

 attend an International Ornithological 

 Congress to be held in the City of Ber- 

 lin, Germany from May 30th to June 

 4th, 1910. Stress of other business 

 will prevent our attendance? 



The first Bluebird arrived at the 

 home of THE OOLOGIST at Lacon, 

 Illinois, March 5th, 1910. And the 

 first Robin, March 8th. Both species 

 being from one to two weeks late, pos- 

 sibly owing to the extreme winter; 

 though the weather has been unusual- 

 ly mild for ten days before their arri- 

 val for this time of year. 



During the spring of 1909, near Row- 

 an Station, on the route of the Butler, 

 Harmony and Newcastle car line, I 

 found a nest of the American Robin 

 (Planesticus migratorius) placed on 

 one of the railroad ties on a trestle, 

 the top of the nest being only about 

 three inches from the bottom of the 

 rail! One of those heavy electric cars 

 thundered over that trestle every half- 

 hour, but, strange to say, it didn't 

 seem to bother the old bird at all, for 

 she never left the nest. The nest con- 

 tained four well incubated eggs. 

 Wm. G. Pitcairn. 



I have in my collection a set of 

 three eggs of the Brown Thrasher 

 (Toxostoma rufum) which merits a 

 writing up. To begin with, the eggs 

 are usualy large for the species in this 

 section, measuring as follows: 1.27x 

 .93; 1.26X.94; 1.28x.93 inches. The 

 ground color of the eggs is pale groen, 

 and they are very sparsely speckled 

 instead of being heavily peppered as 

 in the case with the normal egg of 



the species. The nest was on the 

 ground under a log, and after the three 

 eggs had been laid, the birds deserted 

 the nest. When collected, all the eggs 

 were out of the nest, one being at least 

 two feet away. 



Wm. G. Pitcairn. 



We have recently had the privilege 

 of inspecting a catalogue of the collec- 

 tion of North American Birds eggs 

 owned by the late Charles K. Worthen 

 of Warsaw, Illinois, at the time of his 

 decease. 



As Mr. Worthen was a scientist well 

 known to all ornithologists and oolo- 

 gists not only in America, but in 

 Europe, one whose standing for abso- 

 lute integrity was beyond question, 

 it may be of interest to our readers 

 to know that at the time of his death, 

 Mr. Worthen's private collection of 

 North American Birds consisted of 333 

 species, comprising 6.50 sets and 1406 

 eggs. 



It may be of interest to some of the 

 readers of THE OOLOGIST to know 

 of the measures taken by the Depart- 

 ment of Commerce and Labor, for the 

 protection of our nsrtive birds on the 

 Reservations of the Lighthouse Es- 

 tablishments. No one is allowed to 

 destroy a bird or its nest, or nesting 

 place, and must protect the same as 

 far as possible. This was brought 

 about through the doings of the Audu- 

 mcn Society. 



The undersigned spent some time on 

 a Reservation on the North side of 

 the Gclden Gate Channel. Every even- 

 ing as soon as the light was started, 

 everv gull in the neighborhood would 

 begin flying around the lantern, along 

 up the shore aways, up over the rocks 

 of the coast, out over the bay, and 

 back by way of the channel, around 

 the lantern again. They would keep 

 this up for perhaps an hour or more. 

 Among the most delightful trips I ever 

 had. were the ones in interest of 

 Botany of Oology, taken in the wild 

 rough region, along the Pacific, in 



California. 



Geo. W. H. Vos Burgh. 



