16 



THH OOLOOIST 



the papers of the extermination of 

 egrets and herone and ibises that were 

 being slaughtered for their feathers. 

 Within two years one of our West 

 Chester bird men bought an island in 

 an inland Florida lake for the purpose 

 of protecting a colony of these water 

 birds. The island is only a few acres 

 in extent, and a warden was employed 

 to protect it. This year the colony of 

 these birds have increased to over 

 eight thousand, and they are so num- 

 erous that they will be compelled to 

 spread out to the neighboring islands 

 for homes in 1912. 



There are two species of birds in 

 Chester county that are numerous 

 here, and are very rare elsewhere in 

 the United States. One of them is 

 the worm-eating warbler. It nests on 

 the Valley Hills, and can easily be 

 found if you know where to hunt. The 

 bird is an inconspicuous little fellow 

 with black and brown stripes across 

 its crown. It has no beautiful song 

 and is only to be found where laurel 

 abounds, in the woods. The nest is on 

 the ground and almost invariably un- 

 der a laurel bush. It is lined with 

 bright-red moss stems, and the eggs 

 are always laid about .lune 1. The 

 other bird that finds Chester county a 

 favorite home is the broad-winged 

 hawk. While spread sparingly all 

 over the northern part of the country, 

 here a pair of them has a home in 

 nearly every woods of considerable 

 size. Fifty years ago we had none 

 of them. The grand old red-tailed 

 hawk was king of our woodlands. Then 

 came the unwise state bounty law and 

 the hawks of every description fell 

 before it until the country was swept 

 clean of man's best feathered friends. 

 The red-tails have never come back 

 to stay, the smaller broad-wings tak- 

 ing their places. 



Other counties near around us have 

 birds that we never or rarely see. 



Of such Delaware county has her 

 long-billed marsh wrens. New Castle 

 county has her great heron colonies, 

 Lancaster county has bald eagles, 

 Sullivan county her ravens, and War- 

 ren county a dozen species of warblers 

 that never nest here. The reasons for 

 these favorite nesting places being 

 chosen are hard to find. The study 

 of our birds is a lifelong occupation. — 

 West Chester Village Herald, June 29, 

 1911. 



Notes. 



C. W. Pelton writes: "A small flock 

 of about fifteen Evening Grosbeaks 

 made us a visit a few weeks ago and 

 remained in town (Port Edwards, 

 Wis.) several days." 



Paul G. Howes, the well known or- 

 nithologist of Stamford, Connecticut, 

 writes that he sails on January 8th, 

 for Columbia, South America, in com- 

 pany with Frank M. Chapman, L. A. 

 Fuertes and Mr. Cherrie, where they 

 will be until the end of May, in the in- 

 terest of science. We hope to give 

 our readers some interesting notes 

 from Mr. Howes on his return. 



Ray Densmore of Painesville, Ohio, 

 writes: "In April, 1912, while taking 

 a little stroll I found a Mourning 

 Dove's nest with three eggs. This is 

 the first occurrence of this kind that 

 I have ever run across." 



W. W. Westgate of Seattle, Wash- 

 ington, one of the real old time natur- 

 alists, formerly of Houston, Texas, is 

 again in the field, and is just leaving 

 for a three months' trip in which he 

 proposes to visit all places of interest 

 to a naturalist between Portland and 

 Ashland, Ore. Last July he spent two 

 months on Orcas Island in the San 

 .Tuan straits. His specialty is conchol- 

 ogy. 



