THE YOUNG OOLOGIST. 



5 



hunting islands, but everywhere extremely 

 wild and wary. 



44 Red-bellied Woodpecker, 372 ; com- 

 mon. The notes of this bird strongly re- 

 semble those of the Red-headed variety. 



45 Yellow-shafted Flicker. 37s ; cum- 

 mon in the large woods. 



46 Pigeon Hawk, 416 ; a tine male was 

 taken, in the adult plumage, which I made 

 into a skin for my museum. 



47 Sparrow Hawk, 430 : quite common, 

 one fine adult specimen taken. 



48 Swallow-tailed Kite, 426 ; a beautiful 

 specimen of this bird passed over my head, 

 just too high to shoot, but I recognized 

 the species at once from seeing Wilson's 

 plate of this Kite. All the chief [joints 

 could be so plainly seen as to render mis- 

 take in the identification impossible. 



49 Red-shouldered Hawk, 439 : quite 

 common in the heavily timbered districts. 



50 Bald Eagle, 451 ; common resident. 

 Two nests could be seen across the marshes 

 on the hunting i.slands from our boarding 

 place, and the birds were in sight the great- 

 er portion of the time. I chased a fine, 

 White lieaded bird of this species for aliout 

 half a day about the island, but he seemed 

 to know the e.xact distance a gun would 

 carrj-, and I finally gave up the chase by 

 giving him a full br^ -adside at about si.xty 

 yards range, and then watched him until 

 he disappeared from view, evidently more 

 scared than hurt. 



51 Turkey Buzzard, 454 ; exceedingly 

 abundant, and verj' tame. They may be 

 seen sitting in rows on the house roofs, 

 and in every direction sailing over the 

 fields, marshes and woods. They breed in 

 almost impenetrable jungles of the " Span- 

 ish bayonet," the spines of which are a 

 very serious obstacle to be overcome by 

 the collector. The eggs are laid in a hollow 

 on the ground among the grass and leaves. 



52 Black Vulture. 455 ; exceedingly 

 abundant, but the bulk of these birds evt 

 dently spend the colder part of the season 

 either in the interior or further south, for 

 on my arrival the}' were comparatively 

 scarce, but as the weather grew warmer 

 they increased in numlier until equally as 



common as the Buazards. I secured a fine 

 set of their eggs, collected by Mr. Cuth- 

 bert on Buzzard Island, abont fifteen miles 

 north of where I wa-s stopping. It was 

 very amusing to watch a crowd of the 

 birds gather about the refuse thrown out 

 at the back door. They would come from 

 all directions, as if bj' magic, and squabble 

 for the morsels among themselves, the 

 Turkey Buzzards standing no show what- 

 ever, as they had to give way, and re- 

 mained at a safe distance until the meal 

 was finished. Whether this is invariably 

 the case I cannot state as in the instance 

 mentioned the Black Vultures were in a 

 large majority". 



53 Mourning Dove, 460 ; Exceedingly 

 abundant resident, evenly scattered, and 

 nowhere found in large flocks. 



54 Ground Dove ; exceedingly abundant 

 resident, breeding in the hedges and 

 clumps of bushes in the fields. These 

 beautiful little birds were found in the 

 edges of the cotton and corn fields, near 

 hedges or bushes, into which they plunged 

 when alarmed, but if the collector secreted 

 himself or walked to another part of the 

 field the}' would come out of their retreat 

 and feed along on the ground, those in the 

 rear of the flock fl3'ing over the others and 

 alighting a short distance in advance, much 

 as the Crow Blackbirds do at hom.e Many 

 are the luckless Ground Doves that fell 

 before my gun, and as they were rapid fly- 

 ers, quick darters and shy, I made a spec- 

 ialty of pursuing them for a time. I have 

 in mind one flock of about twenty-five in- 

 dividuals I found in an old cotton field, 

 near a swampy fringe of bushes into which 

 they scurried on my appearance. I con- 

 cluded to spend the afternoon in extermin- 

 ating the flock. Just at dusk that evening 

 the writer of these lines might have been 

 seen, slowly wending his way back to the 

 old plantation house, cartridges all empty, 

 and about fagged out, but carrying a nice 

 string of eighteen Ground Doves, with 

 throats carefully plugged with cotton, 

 ready for the next days' skinning. 



55 American Quail, 480 : exceedingl}' 

 abundant resident. Found in nearly every 



