122 



or:n^ithologist 



[Vol. 14-ISro. 8 



Jirma before the Buzzards began to Hap up 

 from the ground and gaze at us curiously from 

 the surrounding trees. One I thought I had 

 marked carefully as it rose, and I made a bee 

 line for the spot. A careful search failed, 

 however, to disclose any oological treasures 

 and I was about to give it up when I noticed a 

 peculiar trodden appearance of the ground on 

 the other side of the patch of Yucca that I was 

 exploring. A further examination showed a 

 hole in the ground and in it sleeping easily a 

 young otter. Such a jolly little fellow he was, 

 and my companion was fairly overjoyed at his 

 capture. After examining him thoroughly he 

 put him to sleep in his hat and we continued 

 our investigations. It seemed, however, that 

 the Vultures had not begun to lay. Many of 

 them were about and all as usual of the black 

 species. March is rather too early for them 

 though I have known a set of eggs taken as 

 early as the tenth of February. 



Our otter slept peacefully all the way home 

 and at last accounts was well and flourishing 

 and had got his eyes open. Walter Tloxie. 



Destruction of Birds by Cold. 



The past three weeks have been very wet and 

 cold, with frost three times and snow once. 



May 31, in the morning, there was about two 

 inches of snow, and still snowing, and changed 

 to cold rain about 10 o'clock and rained all 

 day. Saturday morning cold and cloiuly, and 

 the thermometer very near the freezing point. 



At a friend's place where I go fishing, etc., 

 there were about one hundred pairs of Martins 

 and Tree Swallows breeding, and on Satur- 

 day morning they were nearly all dead; the 

 children showed me many of them. My 

 friend says he took seven dead Martins in one 

 box, nine under another. Other boxes, not 

 easy to get at, were full of dead ones, and they 

 could be seen partly out of the holes. He 

 told me that at a railroad bridge, near Chester, 

 he could have picked up a bimhel basket of 

 dead Cliff Swallows. 



He goes after his mail in a boat about three 

 miles, and on that morning he saw two Least 

 Bitterns dead by their nests, picked up young 

 ducks so cold they could not swim, Avhich died 

 in the boat before he got home. 



The children brought me a Least Bittern 

 that they found sitting on a boat so cold it 

 could not fly, which they warmed and fed. It 

 was too soiled for skinning so I let it go ; it ran 

 oft" to the marsh. 



May 24, I got two Hudsonian Godwits here, 

 and saw a White Pelican. 



June 7, I got a Black Tern that is white un- 

 der arovuid the neck and from the bill to nearly 

 even with the eyes. The back and top of the 

 head the usual color of the back. There is no 

 other Tern that will answer that description, is 

 there? 



That makes the eighth specimen that is 

 white and partly white, all collected by my- 

 self or for me, I have in my collection. 



Delos Ilrttch. 



Oak Centre, Wis. 



Observations on the Grasshopper 

 Sparrow in Hale County, 

 Alabama. 



Ilale County lies between Tuskaloosa County 

 on the north and Marengo county on the 

 south; its western boundary is the Warrior 

 River, its eastei-n. Perry County. The Grass- 

 hopper Sparrow {Ainmodroutas sdvannariou 

 passerimus) is found only in the "Canebrake" 

 or "Black Belt" of Hale County. On its 

 northern migratory path it probably linds there 

 suitable breeding grounds; and that may ac- 

 count for its presence in summer in that part 

 of the county, while it is never seen at all, 

 to my knowledge, in the less fertile, piney 

 and sandy portion of the north of the 

 county. 



It winters farther south, and makes its ap- 

 pearance in this locality about the first of May, 

 when it begins to breed. A nest of this 

 species found by me on the 11th of this month 

 (May) contained five eggs slightly incubated; 

 it was in a depression in the ground, lined 

 with grass, and was arched or domed on the 

 top. The eggs were white and spotted with 

 reddish-brown, mostly on the larger end, and 

 not differing from the description given of 

 the eggs of the Grasshopper Sparrow breeding 

 farther north. 



The specimens of this sparrow collected by 

 me in this county in the spring and summer 

 have never been streaked, and other measure- 

 ments correspond with the measurements of 

 this species given by Ridgway in his 

 "Manual." 



As Mr. Maynard states, a southern Grass- 

 hopper Sparrow may exist, but, if so, it must 

 be farther south than this latitude, which is 

 about the 33d degree north. 



Will. C. Avery. 



