THE OOLOGIST 



77 



their young near such a thickly popu- 

 lated place as the shores of Lake Le- 

 man. There is one place however, 

 where the gulls might nest, and this 

 is at the eastern end of the lake 

 where the river Rhone flows into it. 

 Here the ground is low and swampy 

 and is covered with a thick-growing 

 low bush of some speci'es unknown to 

 the writer. Ground of this nature 

 would make a typical nesting home 

 for the Black-headed gulls and later in 

 the spring, I intend to make an ex- 

 haustive search over this territory in 

 hopes of finding the birds at home. 

 If such a trip be made I shall report 

 the results cf it in a later number of 

 THE OOLOGIST. 



P. G. HOWES. 



^Ir. A. C. Read, now of the Isle of 

 Pines, reports the taking of an English 

 Blackbird (tVierula merula)at Toledo, 

 Ohio on October 30, 1906, as follows: 



"Saw today a bird that has been puz- 

 zling me all fall. In size and shape it- 

 resembles a Robin; also in its walk 

 or run, but in color it resembles a 

 Blackbird, being jet black. Its notes 

 when alarmed, are much like those of 

 a robin, although a few are somewhat 

 like these of a Crackle. Took this 

 bird November 3d, sent it to Norman 

 A. Wood of the University o€ Michigan 

 for identification. He pronounced it 

 an English Blackbird (Merula merula) 

 but sent it to the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tute for further identification. The In- 

 stitution verified his identification. In 

 all probability it was an escaped cage 

 bird, but I could learn of no-one who 

 ha<I one in our town, nor of any bird 

 dealer who had ever seen one." 



The article in the May issue relat- 

 ing to the Delaware Valley Ornitholo- 

 gical Club should have been credited 

 to W. M. Strong. 



In the Rhone Valley of Switzerland. 



On the morning of April 4, r.HO, the 

 writer started on a trip lo the Valley 

 of tho Rhone in search of the nest- 

 ing home of the Black-headed Gull. 

 The Rhone is but fifteen miles from 

 Vevey and is easily reached as many 

 small steamers make daily visits to 

 all parts of the lake. I disembarked 

 at Villeneuve, a small town about 

 three-quarters of a mile from the val- 

 ley proper. Here I hired a row boat 

 and after loading it with my cameras 

 and other collecting materials, I was 

 soon on my way to the supposed nest- 

 ing home of "Ridibundus." 



It was a typical April day; the 

 sun was clear and warm and the liquid 

 songs of Black thrushes and Chaffin- 

 ches seemed to pour forth from every 

 bush and tree as I started on my two- 

 mile row to the mouth of the river. 

 This low, swampy valley is perhaps 

 some four miles wide, lying between 

 great snow-capped mountains whose 

 blue-shadowed crevices contrast vivid- 

 ly with their ;white, snow-covered 

 peaks reaching to Altitudes high 

 above the low hanging .clouds. To the 

 north the Tour d'Ai rise almost per- 

 pendicularly from the valley to an al- 

 titude of 7005 feet. To the south are 

 the well known Dents du Midi whose 

 highest peak reaches 9555 feet and di- 

 rectly in front of us, far in the" east,' 

 the Dent de Morcles rises like a great 

 blue cone to an altitude of 8S14 feet. 

 The extreme end of Mount Gram- 

 mont also rolls up from the southern 

 side of the valley and one half mile to 

 the north of this the Rhone empties, 

 into Lake Leman. 



I landed but a few yards from the 

 river's mouth and at once started to 

 search the swampy * country to the 

 north of it. By 2 p. m. a strip one 

 mile in length by one hundred and 

 fifty feet in width had been carefully 



