The OoLOGiST. 



Vol. XXVII. No. 8. Albion, N. Y. Aug. 15, 1910. Whole No.i277 



Publislicd Monthly, by R. 31. Barnes, Albion, N. Y., and Laron, Illinois. 



A LETTER. 



One of our old friends sends us a 

 letter containing, among other things, 

 the following paragraph, which turns 

 the mind backward to the days when 

 oology in America was young: 



"I have not been in the field once 

 this season. Like old friend, Troup D. 

 Perry, am getting stiff and the legs 

 will n^t go as they used so. 1 and 

 Perry have corresponded since 1880, 

 and I have yet to find a more sincere 

 man to the heart than he. My, but 

 how the times have changed since 

 those days! Where are all the old 

 egg men? We don't see their names 

 in print any more; have crossed over 

 the Great Divide into new worlds. 

 Coues, Bendire, Wade, Southwick, An- 

 dros, Small, Noble, and Snowden How- 

 land are with the silent majority now." 



Professor W. Otto Emerson of Hay- 

 wards, California, is now engaged in 

 arranging and cataloguing the oologi- 

 cal collection of the late Walter E. 

 Bryant for the Oakland Public 

 Museum. This collection is not as 

 large as one would suppose, but con- 

 tains many specimens taken in the 

 early 70's when Oakland was a city of 

 less than 40,000 and the ground now 

 covered by the same place which ex- 

 tends in practically solid blocks from 

 Alameda clear to Berkeley and con- 

 tains approximately 200,000 people. 



Mr. Bryant was in his lifetime, re- 

 garded as one of the best posted orni- 

 thologists in the United States on the 



Hummingbirds, and probably as the 

 very best in preparing these minute 

 specimens either as skins or mounted 

 birds. 



Our rid friend Thomas H. Jackson 

 cf West Chester, Pennsylvania, has 

 recently enjoyed the pleasure of an 

 extensive bird observation trip into 

 the wilds of Florida, viewing among 

 other things, the sights of the famous 

 Bird Island, and we are informed, has 

 brought home a splendid collection of 

 photographs taken during his visit to 

 that Mecca of all bird lovers. 



During his stay in Florida he enjoy- 

 ed the pleasure of a visit with Mr. 

 Oscar Baynard, who is also well 

 known to our readers as a discrimi- 

 nating observer of Florida bird life. 



At Coronado, Florida, a Fish-hawk 

 was found the other day, in rather an 

 unusual predicament. 



Someone had set a steel coon trap 

 on a mudbank, bordering one of our 

 salt marshes. The trap was baited 

 w^ith a small fish. The rising tide cov- 

 ered trap and bait. A Fish hawk, 

 seeing the fish under water, dived 

 down for it, with the result that it 

 was caught by one foot in the trap. 

 Evidently the bird had been held thus 

 for two or three days. Its plumage 

 was torn and disarranged, and the 

 bird was so weak and emaciated that 

 for half an hour after being liberat- 

 ed, it was unable to fly away. 



HUBERT J. LONGSTREET. 



