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THE OOLOGIST. 



The Editor Has Lately Noted 



First — A Black-crowned Night-Heron 

 flew over our liead one smoky, foggy 

 morning in mid-September. A very 

 rare bird in Western New York. 



Second — In a neglected school 

 yard on Sept. 14th 1 found an Olive- 

 backed Thrush that was a victim of 

 some unexplained accident. The right 

 wing had been thrown clear forward 

 so that the -bird's head protruded be- 

 tween the three outer primaries and 

 the balance of the wing. The bird 

 was unable to fly and could not ex- 

 tricate itself from the embarassing 

 predicament. 



Glad I happened along before Mr. 

 Tom Cat. On drawing the wing fur- 

 ther forward the bird promptly drew 

 its head out and flew away and a 

 tragedy was averted. 



Third — New York State gives the 

 New Pheasant Law its first trial next 

 month; This law allows a licensed 

 hunter to kill male Pheasants every 

 Saturday and Thursday in October 

 provided he only kills a total of 3 

 birds in the month. He is to report 

 his take to his city or town clerk in 

 a sworn affidavit and, — shades of 

 Blackstone, — this patched up freak 

 finally asserts that "the burden of 

 proof shall rest entirely with accus- 

 sed" in case of any claim of violation. 

 Suppose a man hunts alone and kills 

 a Pheasant can he be certain that he 

 can prove to everyone's satisfaction 

 that he did so legally? In Mexico, I 

 am told they hold a man dishonest 

 until he proves the contrary. Is that 

 rule becoming infectious? 



Fourth — Let no reader of the Oolo- 

 gist who buys or exchanges speci- 

 mens of any kind forget that the mat- 

 ter of Postal reforms in an indirect 

 issue in the present political cam- 

 paign that must possess a live inter- 

 est for him since nothing but the at- 



titude of our last Senate stands in 

 the way. 



Must we have a Hughes to whip 

 them into line or must we dispense 

 with them? 



Fifth — Several parties are evidently 

 getting into line for our "Black List. ' 



We would particularly warn the 

 two gentlemen in N. W. Canada that 

 they must "hurry up." 



E. H. Short. 



Large Sets of Merula Migrator! Pro- 

 pinqua; Western Robin. 



As large sets of the Robin either 

 M. migratoria or M .m. propinqua are 

 rare the following notes may be of in- 

 terest to some oologists: 



On April 29, of the present season, 

 I found a nest of the Western Robin, 

 placed twelve feet up in a small Fir, 

 containing five fresh eggs. The nest 

 was a little larger than usual with less 

 mud and more grass and weed stems. 

 The five eggs are perfectly uniform 

 in size and shade and are without 

 doubt laid by one bird. 



Set No. 2 is still better. On June 

 1.5, one of our neighbors told me there 

 was a Robin's nest in her back yard 

 and if I wanted the eggs to come over. 

 I jokingly remarked that if it contain- 

 ed 5 eggs I certainly would like it. On 

 •June 20 great to my surprise and al- 

 so delight the little girl from our 

 neighbor's house come in and told me 

 her Robin's nest had six eggs in it. 

 Xeedless to say I got excited at once 

 and upon climbing the tree saw the 

 six eggs all perfectly uniform and 

 slightly larger than average Robin 

 eggs. That was Set No. 2 added to 

 my rarities. 



Set No. 3. On June 22nd the same 

 liair that gave be the set of six start- 

 ed building a new nest in an apple 

 tree within twenty feet of the first 

 nest and on July 1 had three eggs. I 



