22 



THE OOLOGIST 



Fulica americana. 



BY GREENE SMITH. 



AN the eighteeuth of October, 1870, the 

 iiflernoou being oppressively warm, Abe 

 Kleiuniau and myself were lazily paddliug 

 ou the Calumet Kiver, Illiuois, and, as no- 

 bler game was not visible within howitzer 

 range, we amused ourselves by occasional- 

 ly shooting a Coot as it crossed our bows. 

 By the way, this generally ignored Coot is 

 by no means to be despised by the epicure. 

 I have often found wild celery in their stom- 

 achs, the flavor of which was very appar- 

 ent in their flesh. 



We winged one and on Mr. K.'s reach- 

 ing to pick it up, we Avere surprised to see 

 it dive, not only once, but repeatedly, and 

 it swam well under water, often using its 

 uninjured wing to accelerate its speed. The 

 water being very cdear and not a breath of 

 air disturbing its surface, we were enabled 

 to make our observations so .as to leave no 

 doubts. These facts were new and inter- 

 esting to me and may be to others. 



On the Habits of the Magnolia 

 Warbler. 



HTHLS jaunty little bird is rather common 

 in eastern United States, frequenting the 

 woods mostly, though to be found in open 

 places. During a collecting trip to the 

 wilder portions of central New York it was 

 one of our most abundant bird acquaint- 

 ances, and its presence in the deep woods 

 quite neutralized whatever lonesomeness 

 our isolated position might possibly create. 

 We used to frequent a path along the edge 

 of a beautiful stream — a sort of "bark 

 road" which the "bark-peelers" traveled 

 in their annual visit to the forest — on one 

 side of which, for a distance of a mile or 

 so, there was a district possessing great 

 charms for the ornithologically inclined por- 

 tion of our natures. Birds of many ditfer- 

 ent kinds and plumages, representing a good- 

 ly proportion of almost all the families of 

 small wood birds, seemed to proclaim them- 



selves for our especial benefit, and many a 

 specimen which we had never seen before 

 did we get along this path. There were 

 Woodpeckers, Flycatchers, Warblers and 

 many others ; and now and then we would 

 find birds just out of the nest crying lustily 

 for their parents, who, bewildered and a- 

 larmed, put in claims for their offspring in 

 such a piteous maimer that we forbore to 

 tantalize them. The rough, rocky, moss- 

 covered knolls and the bunches of twigs 

 sprouting here and there from a loamy spot, 

 furnished excellent nooks for some birds ; 

 the dense luidcrgrowth of fern and broad 

 leaved plants formed the retreat of others ; 

 while a third group hopped or flitted about 

 in the trees overhead, now so busy that one 

 thinks he can almost catch them with his 

 hand, then sporting among themselves with 

 the very glee of wood sylphs. Even the 

 trees themselves seemed to be drinking in 

 the life which the bracing atmosphei'e im- 

 parted. 



Troublesome as the gnats and flies were, 

 we could not but appreciate our new field 

 of observation ; our aesthetic senses, almost 

 stagnated by a prolonged and unbroken ex- 

 perience among a few of the best known 

 species of birds, were at once revived and 

 reconstructed, as it were, by the panorama 

 which Nature unfolded to us. It seemed 

 almost as if something new were seen at 

 every step ; birds multiplied in numbers and 

 kinds to such an extent that our note-books 

 seemed soon to be exhausted, and all tho'ts 

 of city and civilization left us — ours was 

 a primitive paradise. 



There was one little bird, a pert, bright- 

 colored species, which we noticed quite fre- 

 quently in the lower branches of the trees. 

 Its cleai- yellow throat and black-striped 

 head at once made its name known. They 

 liked to flit about very close to us, as if we 

 were an inexplicable curiosity, but no no- 

 tion of danger ever entered their little heads 

 — if we moved sharply upon them, they 

 hopped to the next farthest twig and scanned 

 us as nonchalently as before. If we fished, 

 they peered at us from a few feet distant, 

 as if rather liking the situation, and only 



