THE OOLOGIST. 



173 



The Bl;u-k Duck is a slow coarh. He is 

 alH)ut as good as the Mallard, and the 

 Wood Duck and Pintail, Widgeon ean- 

 not do any hcttiT. 'i'lie Red Head ean 

 go easily !)() miles an honr as long as he 

 likes; all <la.V it necessary. Tlie Blue- 

 winged Teal and its beautifni cousin, 

 the (Jreen-winged Teal can liy side hy 

 side and make 100 miles jter hour and 

 take it easy. The (iadwall, you see 

 them here very seldom, tl'.ougli well 

 known west of the AlIegluMiy ri\cr and 

 as Kislianimock, thougii looking like 

 the Mallai'd, is a smarter duck aiul l^ai'd- 

 er to shoot. It can make ;)0 miles an 

 hour and n.ot try liard . 



Maybe you think a goo.se eau"t tiy 

 fast. Why, it can doul)le the sjjeed of 

 the fastest railroad train. Of (.-ourse 1 

 mean a wild goose. It can get fi-oni 

 feeding ground to feeding ground so 

 •suddenly that it fools some of our best 

 wing shots. If you see a flock of Honk- 

 ers moving along so high that they seem 

 to scrape their hacks to the sky you 

 wouldn't think they were making near- 

 ly 100 miles per hour, hut they are. 

 The wild goose is not much on foot, but 

 it .still means luisiness every tiiiTe. The 

 Broad-l)illed goose comes next to the 

 Canvass Back in s})ccd. Put the two 

 together and in an hour the Broad-bill- 

 ed Goose will only ))e 10 miles l)ehind 

 the Canvass Back. 



The fastest railroad train cannot hold 

 a candle l)y the side of the slowest duck 

 that Hies. 



This information i-oiucs hoiw corres- 

 2)ond<'nce of life-long guniiers. Aiul 

 gunners will tell you that 1 iiave hit 

 the mark ])rctty close. 



A. W. NOLTK, 

 Los Angele.-^, Cal. 



The White-eyed or Florida Towhee. 



Ha\ ing never notiee<l anything about 

 this bird, I thought I would tell what I 

 know about them. To begin with, 

 pliuiiage. Male, head and neck to ])oiut 

 uf breast jet black; breast and belly 



greyish white; sides and under tail red- 

 dish brown; lack edge of tail when 

 spread wiiite; back and to]) of tail !»lack- 

 isli lirown. 



Female, jjlumage same as male, ex- 

 eei)t heail ami neck, chestnut brown, 

 Both birds have a narrow bar of while 

 on each wing, which looks like a small 

 ])alch when the wing is closed; also a 

 small crest which is raised and lowered 

 at will. So far for descrii)tion. Not 

 \ ery scieutilic to say the least. 



The Towhee whistles a few notes, the 

 most fre(juent of which is "Jo-ree, Jo- 

 ice" uttered as it jumps al)out on the 

 groiir.d. It frc(iuents low si-ruli land 

 and palmetto patches, where it is very 

 abundant. It has a peculiar way of 

 scratching with both feet and makes so 

 much fuss that I have often, while out 

 hunting, got down on my knees to look 

 in the l)rush, exjx'cting to see sonu- 

 large, onlj' to see a "Jo-ree" scratching 

 away for "dear life," and making the 

 lea\es Hy in every direction. 



Though the l)ird is so plentiful,! have 

 never found a nest and can not tell any- 

 thing al)out its nesting hai>its. 



WiLL.^KD Eliot, 

 Thoiiotosassa, Fla. 



A Peculiar Nesting Site. 



While out lishing with some friends 

 I sat down on a i-otten stumj) ami be- 

 gan to ])ush it over. At that moment a 

 Blaek-ca])ped Chickadee Hew out of a 

 hole ru'ar the bottom of the stump. I 

 looked in and to my surjjrise I saw six 

 eggs. The hole was about three inches 

 abo\e the ground and nest two intdies 

 below the surface. Up(»n examining 

 the eggs they were found to lie as pe- 

 culiar as the site of the nest, being larg- 

 er than usual anil were co\ered with 

 blotches instead of s])ots of brown. 



Thus 1 fonnil my tiist undergidunil 

 Chickadees nest. 



C. V. Wheeler, 

 Chesterville, Me. 



