THE OOLOGIST 



247 



ers and a few Killdeer I turned inland 

 to the ])onds, swamps and woods. 

 From a large bunch of cat-tails 1 flush- 

 ed and shot a Least Bittern and ai 

 the report a belated Coot got u,). 



Amongst a lot of willows and low 

 stuff I saw a flycatcher that did noi 

 look just right. I gathered it in and 

 found J had an Acadian. At Warren 

 I never met with it. 



About the ponds the turtles were 

 abundant and I frequently flushed 

 Least Bitterns, of which 1 shot one 

 more. I flushed several Americans, al- 

 so Long billed Marsh Wrens were 

 abundant and along a slough I secur- 

 ed a Short billed, the first I ever saw 

 and the second record from this re- 

 gion. 



Eagles were soaring around at all 

 times but near the station only gray 

 ones were seen. I had noticed a cou- 

 ple adults about the ponds so I made 

 my way to the outside beach above 

 the light-house. I looked about and 

 soon found a large dead tree which, 

 judging from the amount of sign about 

 I concluded to be a favorite perch of 

 eagles. Concealing myself in range 

 I took it eaay and watched the break- 

 ers rolling in. Hadn't been there over 

 half an hour until I saw an old baldy 

 coming my way just over the edge of 

 the surf. He swung in to the tree but 

 when about to alight started on. 1 

 saluted him with my "Parker" and 

 down he came with a slam onto Van 

 beach. It was a fine adult maFe with 

 pure white head, neck and tail and 

 measured 6 feet 9 inches in extent, 

 and made a fine specimen. 



I had a good load so started back 

 down the beach to the station four 

 miles away. Besides the Killdeer and 

 Tip-ups I saw several small flocks of 

 Semip. Plover and some good sized 

 wader flying that I failed to recognize. 

 There were several flocks of Titlarks 



on the beach which surprised me as 

 1 thought it late for them. 



When I arrived at the station ])y the 

 middle of the afternoon a stiff wind 

 was blowing and numbers of Terns 

 and several Herring Gulls were fly- 

 ing about. On a sandy point on the 

 oi)en lake 1 saw a large flock of Terns 

 so strolled over that way. Under cov- 

 er I got uj) within 100 yards and took 

 a look. .lust to one side of the terns 

 I saw a pair of large waders and only 

 one look was necessary to recoe:nize a 

 pair of Black-bellied Plover in full 

 dress. I sized up the situation anu 

 saw one chance. I got down and 

 crawled, then wriggled along over the 

 sand to a piece of drift. It was slow, 

 hard work, but I finally reached the 

 drift and there at long range, was my 

 game. The male collapsed at the first 

 shot and as the female started off I 

 jumped up and dropped her with the 

 second barrel. They were in faultless 

 breeding dress and the male is sure- 

 ly a handsome bird. 



I felt well repaid for my trip by 

 their capture as it is the only spring 

 record for this region or for western 

 Pennsylvania, so far as I can find out. 



So what had started out as a rather 

 uneventful trip wound up on Friday as 

 quite a successful one. 



R. B. Simpson, 

 Warren, Pennsylvania. 



Some Ducks and a Hawk. 



The morning of February 1st, 1899, 

 the thermometer registered S degrees 

 below zero. There was a foot of snow 

 on the ground and the river was 

 frozen tight except along the islands. 

 It was cloudy out but no wind so I 

 started early for my old stamping 

 grounds down the river. 



The Rough-legged Hawk is scarce 

 here and is only found on the islands 

 and open flats and never away from 



