THE OOLOGIST 



211 



colonizing was like the Swallow, 

 while the individual burrow and plac- 

 ing of the nest at the back end was 

 like a Belted Kingfisher's. 



George W. H. vos Burgh. 

 • m ■ 



Mourning Dove Notes. 



These sets may not be unusual but 

 I rarely ever find them in these lo- 

 cations. 



June 11, 1910, in a boat tall Grackle 

 nest set of three Mourning Doves. 



June 12, 1910, set of two Mourning 

 Doves and three Boat tailed Grackle 

 in Grackle nest. 



April 14, 1915, nest of Mourning 

 Dove and two eggs on top of a broken 

 off tree ten feet high. 



R. Graham, Ft. Worth, Texas. 



The Kingfisher. 

 The Belted Kingfisher arrives in 

 this part of Illinois, Bureau, La Salle, 

 Putnam and Grundy Counties, the 

 latter part of April or the beginning 

 of May, and immediately looks up his 

 old nesting site and if the same has 

 been destroyed, commences excavat- 

 ing a new hole for a nesting site. In 

 this part of the country it does not 

 require any great amount of physical 

 exertion to procure a set of King- 

 fisher eggs, for during all my collect- 

 ing years. I have never had occasion 

 to use a pick, ladder or such other 

 paraphernalia as described by Mr. 

 Maxon. The Kingfisher is shrewd 

 in locating his nesting site, but 

 not shrewd enough to foil the sci- 

 entific collector, for the reason that 

 the cavity is generally placed at a 

 depth of from two to three feet below 

 the surface of the bank containing 

 the nesting site. The mode of secur- 

 ing the eggs after locating the cavity 

 is as follows: Secure a pliable switch 

 of a length of six or seven feet, meas- 

 ure depth of hole from top of bank 

 then insert pliable switch or stick to 

 get the ankle and length of run-way, 



then withdraw your stick and lay 

 upon surface of ground, and by fol- 

 lowing the angle and measurement 

 on your stick and allowing one foot 

 more, so as to give a change to get 

 in the rear of the nest, the nesting 

 site can be approached, without dan- 

 ger of breaking the eggs or ruining 

 the site. 



I generally take a garden trowel 

 and hatchet in cutting down to nest- 

 ing site and never destroy the cavity 

 for the reason of saving the site for 

 another set. 



After digging down and you get 

 near the horizon of the nest be care- 

 ful by tapping to prevent a sudden 

 entrance, as it may ruin your expecta- 

 tions. I make as small an opening as 

 possible, and after removing the eggs 

 and securing the necessary data, I 

 then carefully replace the earth, after 

 covering the opening into the dome 

 containing nest with a piece of sod 

 reversed and close up excavation and 

 replace top sod. I have taken three 

 sets of eggs from one cavity in one 

 season in the manner described. 



L. H. Shadensack. 



Introduced New York Game. 

 Ottomar Reinecke in a letter, ad- 

 vises us that "a great many male 

 Mongolian Pheasants have been shot 

 in New York State this fall by hunt- 

 ers." The female is protected by 

 law, and nearly all of the birds shot 

 were mounted by taxidermists; Dr. 

 Herman R. Grieb, a taxidermist of 

 Buffalo, receiving not less than five 

 hundred for mounting from all parts 

 of New York. This bird seems to be 

 established in some of the Eastern 

 states. It is not yet established in 

 Illinois. 



Late Nesting of the Wilson's Thrush. 

 On the 24th of June, 1915, at Spar- 

 row Lake, Muskoka, I found a nest 



