THE 00L0QI8T 



71 



I believe we have the tendency which 

 we frequently observe in the Blue 

 Goose, to exhibit large areas of white 

 feathers on the under parts of the 

 bird. I have had two living birds of 

 this class of specimens which were 

 trapped. The under parts and fore- 

 breast of each of them was entirely 

 white, extending up to and joining 

 the normally white neck, in front. 

 Repeated moults of these individuals 

 showed no extension or expansion of 

 these white parts which would have 

 been the case of the birds were they 

 gradually assuming the plumage of a 

 Lesser Snow Goose. In neither of 

 these two individuals was there ever 

 a showing of white feathers on the 

 upper parts. The back, tail and all 

 wing feathers remained constant and 

 true to the Blue Goose plumage 

 throughout in moults. This leads me to 

 the conclusion that such birds were 

 hybrids in a' wild state. 



R M. Barnes. 



HAWK FEED 



Sunday, Aprill 24, 1921 I was driv- 

 ing a car about Ave miles from Peters- 

 burg in Prince George county when 

 one of the smaller hawks, I do not 

 know what kind it was, arose from the 

 side of the road and flew straight 

 down the road ahead of the car. 1 

 noticed that he seemed to be flying 

 rather heavily atid that he did not 

 rise more than three feet above the 

 ground, so I speeded up the car and 

 tried to catch up with him. I was 

 gaining on him and in another minute 

 should have run him down when he 

 dropped a bird he was carrying and 

 dived through an opening in the 

 bushes at one side of the road. T 

 stopped the car quickly as possible 

 and ran back to see what it was he 

 had dropped. I found a full grown 

 dove stone dead and partly picked, 

 one wing was gone and the head cut 

 off as cleanly as it could have been 

 done with a knife. 



The hawk stayed about while I was 

 looking at his dinner so I left it in 

 the road. I returned along the same 

 road in about a half hour' and the 

 dove was gone. I suppose the hawk 

 carried it to some secluded spot 

 where he could eat in peace. 



Irving C. Lunsford. 



THE HORNED LARK 



This American bird, might properly 

 be called the American Sky Lark, for 

 like its English Cogener, it has gained 

 its reputation from its peculiar habits 

 of singing only in the skies; but it 

 takes its name from a horn like or 

 ain uo s.temBej jo ijn; pad'Biis jBsds 

 crown of the head, habitually erect 

 like a crest, one above each eye. 



The bird is found plentifully on the 

 great prairie plains of the West, es- 

 pecially of South Dakota', which seems 

 to be its natural home. In appearance 

 like all birds that live habitually on 

 the open plains, its plumage has little 

 of conspicuous color and is not at all 

 variegated, and is of a grayish brown. 

 In form the body is rather shapely, 

 long and petite, with a fair breadth of 

 wing, but only a moderate speed in 

 flight. It spends most of its time on 

 the ground seeking its food in the 

 grassy environment by which it is 

 surrounded. It does not probably mi- 

 grate far Southward, but is not often 

 seen in the dead of winter on the 

 prairies of its native heath, but the 

 cold fierce days of winter are scarcely 

 passed till it is in evidence, in its 

 summer haunts. 



A close noting of the habits of this 

 bird, for a series of years failed to 

 discover in a single instance its nest, 

 or its young broods, and its ways are 

 so secretive, quiet and noiseless that 

 it was classed as a silent member of 

 the feathered kingdom. But a reve- 

 lation came at last, and judgment was 

 reversed. Traveling afoot across a 

 wide stretch of prairie, uncultivated 

 country in mid-summer, there came 



