278 



THE OOLOGIST 



white; sides around a band at 

 the base of the under-tail-coverts 

 black, spotted with white. The fe- 

 male has none of those gorgeous col- 

 ors, which proves that in all animal 

 life for beauty the male is superior. 



The eggs are grayish, olive-brown, 

 thinly spotted with blackish, size 3.50 

 X 2.20. The young are covered with 

 a soft down, sooty-brown in color and 

 leave the nest as soon as hatched. 



What a fine group, a male and fe- 

 male with the two young would make 

 when given to our artistic taxiderm- 

 ist, Mr. H. Grieb in Buffalo. Such a 

 group would equal those of the. Great 

 FIVE— OOLOGIST 



Blue Herons and theWhistling Swans 

 in the Buffalo Society of Natural Sci- 

 ences. 



The food of the Loon consists en- 

 tirely of fish, which it catches by 

 swimming after them beneath the sur- 

 face of the water. 



In the early spring some can be 

 found near Navy Island, above Niag- 

 ara Falls and some have been seen in 

 our Buffalo harbor near the new 

 water works before their northern mi- 

 gration to their breeding places and 

 in the same localities late in Septem- 

 ber on their southward journey to the 

 Gulf of Mexico. 



I am indebted for an exceedingly 

 fine male, which can be seen at my 

 home, to Mr. Christ Schwartz, of Ni- 

 agara Falls. 



Ottomar Reinecke. 



Notes on the Kingbird from Harris 

 County, Texas. 



The Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus) 

 is a common summer resident of the 

 prairie districts of Harris county, 

 Texas, one or more pairs being found 

 in every orchard, "motte", or ranch 

 yard. They inhabit the same locali- 

 ties as frequented by the Scissor-tail- 

 ed Flycatcher, although the Kingbird 



is more often seen along the edges 

 of woods. 



They arrive at Houston from their 

 winter quarters about April 2, and by 

 the 27th the birds are mated and be- 

 gin their nests. The first nests are 

 completed May 10 and the first egg 

 laid the following day. By the 17th 

 or 18th the set is usually completed 

 and the birds commence incubation. 

 The first young noted were hatched 

 on May 31. 



In this locality I think only two 

 broods are raised yearly, the second 

 set being laid about the end of June 

 or first of July. August 1 sees the 

 birds gathering in flocks and wander- 

 ing around cotton and corn fields and 

 by the end of that month they begin 

 migrating southward. This migra 

 tion continues up until the first part 

 of October, when the last stragglers 

 are seen. 



The food in this locality consists 

 of insects, fruits and berries; num- 

 bers of times I have seen these birds 

 feeding on ripe figs, grapes, pears and 

 various berries, as well as following 

 plows, in company with many other 

 species, securing the worms brought 

 to light. 



The birds are very vicious in the 

 defense of nests and young, and dur- 

 ing the nesting season I have seen 

 vultures, hawks, and many smaller 

 species fleeing panic-stricken before 

 the rush of this dauntless little war- 

 rior. 



The nest is placed in the orchard 

 trees, and in the "mottes" and shade 

 trees around the ranch houses or 

 farms, on either horizontal limbs or 

 in crotches near the tops of the high- 

 est branches. It is a bulky structure, 

 and, like the Scissor-tail's is a very 

 untidy structure and very easy to find; 

 composed of wigs, weed-stems, 

 grasses, rootlets, cotton, string and 

 thistle-down, and lined with thistle- 



