THU OOIXMJIST 



149 



An Albino Crow. 



On Julj^ 6th Mr. J. Isaac of this 

 city was worlving in his field, and no- 

 ticed a pure white bird flying with a 

 flock of crows. 



After expending much time and la- 

 bor he managed to shoot the bird, and 

 upon examination found that it was an 

 albino crow, being pure white from 

 the tip of its bill to the tips of its 

 toes. 



It is the first bird of its kind that 

 has ever been killed around Fond du 

 Lac, Wis. 



O. J. Gromme. 



This is an Albino Crow and very 

 unusual. — Ed. 



Tufted Titmouse. 



There lies at the head of a long, 

 narrow ravine, some four miles from 

 my home, a grove of oaks, consisting 

 of both the red and white varieties. It 

 was my great pleasure to stroll 

 through this cluster of trees upon a 

 bright, sunny morning, late in April, 

 of a few years past. As I neared a 

 splashing brook which merrily made 

 its way down the ravine, I caught 

 sight of a Tufted Titmouse with nest- 

 ing material in its bill; it flitted from 

 tree to tree finally reaching a large 

 white oak that stood on the very bord- 

 er of the grove. After pausing a mo- 

 ment to look about, it flew to a cavity 

 in the end of a partly dead limb, and 

 disappeared within. Of course it was 

 too early to ex])ect eggs, so I departed 

 intending to return early in May. 



May 4, appeared, — dark drizzly, and 

 wet. I left the house immediately af- 

 ter dinner, and splashed along the 

 muddy road. I reached the ravine 

 about 3 o'clock and made my way to 

 the nesting tree of the Titmouse. 

 Sinec the day was so dark and wet 

 there were few birds to be seen, and 

 no signs of the Titmouse could be 

 noted. Upon my reaching the limb 



which held the nest the female Tit- 

 mouse dashed out scolding and flutter- 

 ing about. I reached the cavity, af- 

 ter I had removed sufficient dead wood 

 to admit my hand, and found six, seven 

 — surely that was the full set — no 

 there were eight lovely eggs! These 

 rested upon a lining of black horse 

 hair and soft green moss. 



S. S. Dickey. 

 Waynesburg, Pa. 



After Ducks and Shore Birds. 



Several years ago while spending 

 a few days on the "Peninsula" at 

 Erie, Pa., in the fall I found quite a 

 flight of birds on October 6th. All 

 day it was cloudy and sultry with a 

 moderate and rather warm S. W. wind. 



I crossed Misery Bay at day light 

 and went at once to the outside beach. 



Three Mallards flew over but were 

 a little too high. 



Noticing a small duck coming I laid 

 low but it alighted just out of range. 

 The instant it struck the water I rush- 

 ed it and by the time it got started 

 out again I was in long range and se- 

 cured a flne Greenwinged Teal. See- 

 ing one large and several small shore 

 birds along the water edge, I sneaked 

 up and gathered in a Black-bellied 

 Plover. Following up the smaller ones 

 I found one Dunlin and four or five 

 snaderlings. I shot the Dunlin but 

 let the others go. 



Off shore aways several dark ducks 

 were flying low over the breakers. I 

 think they were Scoters. A few Her- 

 ring Gulls were about and here and 

 there a little bunch of Horned Grebes. 

 Noticed several Loons flying during 

 the morning. 



Quite a few flocks of ducks passed 

 but were all well off shore. Seeing a 

 bunch of eight or ten Sanderlings I 

 sneaked up and noticed two odd ones 

 among them. These I shot and found 

 them to be a Dunlin and a Seraipal- 



