142 



THE OOLOGIST. 



was so warm and the water did not 

 feel so very cold to the hand. One 

 plunge was enough to convince nie 

 that it was rather too early in the sea- 

 son for c(irafort and I lost no time iu 

 getting out and dressed again. 



After tills we started to walk over the 

 hills to another small lake, not, howev- 

 er, before my companion had killed three 

 Blue-winged Teal at one shot, in a 

 small inlet. On the hills west of the 

 lake I took a set of three beautiful 

 spotted eggs of the Marsh Hawk from 

 a nest on the ground, securing the fe- 

 male bird. On arriving at the lake I 

 sat down to write down some notes 

 and watch some small birds, while my 

 companion scoured around the lake, 

 securing another Teal. The Redpoll 

 Warblers [Dt'idroica palmnrum) were 

 quite abundant among the low bushes 

 and on the ground. 



On our return trip I shot a Redpoll 

 Warbler and a female Virginia Rail. 

 It was d3rk when we reached home 

 and though I had "that tired feeling" 

 before I got all my birds skinned that 

 night, I felt myself amply repaid for 

 my trip, being successful in securing 

 both specimens and notes, having ob- 

 sei'ved the following species: 



Ring-billed Gulls, Black Terns, 

 Cranes, Virginia- and Sma Rails, Amer- 

 ican Bitterns, Wilson's Phalaropes, 

 Yellow-legs, Pectoi-al Sandpiper, Least 

 Sandpiper, Bartramian Sandpiper, 

 American Coots, Blue-winged Teal, , 

 Spoonbills, Pintails, Mallards, Mourning 

 Bores, Canada Geese, Prairie Chickens, 

 Marsh Hawks, Crows, Blue Jays, Red- 

 wiuged Blackbirds, Meadow Larks, 

 Swallows. Sparrows. Martins, Bronzed 

 Grackles, Yellow, Myrtle and Redpoll 

 Warblers. Brown Thrushes, Marsh 

 Wrens, Kinglets and Robins; and the 

 first Bobolinks. Yellow-headed Black- 

 birds, Black-throated Bunting. King- 

 birds. Maryland Yellow-throat, Yellow 

 Warblers and Catbirds that I have no- 

 ticed this season besides several species 

 that I could not positively identify. 

 Rudolph M. Anderson, 

 Forest City, Iowa. 



SCENES PROM THE LTPE OF ALEXANDER 

 WILSON. 



His Second Southern Tour— Continued- 



G. Vkoojian Smith. 



X 



In our last article we were following 

 our ornithological friend through the 

 wilds of Kentucky and Tennessee and 

 more particularly through the one hua" 

 dred and eighty miles of Forest desert 

 intervening between Danville and 

 Nashville. 



How vastly has that beautiful terri- 

 tory changed since our traveller pushed 

 his waj' through its wilds! At the time 

 of which we write there was not a sin- 

 gle town or village along the whole al- 

 most unbroken waste. Yet it was so 

 common for Wilson to travel unaccom- 

 2)anied through uncultivated wilder- 

 nesses that his out door nature had in 

 fact lieeume a pai't of the primeval sol- 

 itudes he was accustomed to explore in 

 quest of those feathered creatures he 

 had adopted as his companions,friends, 

 aye we may almost say as relatives, for 

 in them he saw objects Avorthy of his 

 most humane consideration. Separat- 

 ed from his native land and near kin by 

 three thousand miles of waterj'^ waste, 

 and he himself alone in the world, do 

 we wonder that he bestowed so much 

 attention upon those winged denizens 

 of the forest whom, he chose as his only 

 companions for long days and nights of 

 fatiguing travel through the then un- 

 bi'oken American wilds? It is worthy 

 of note that our great pioneers in orni- 

 thology have all chosen similar modes 

 of life. And yet how imperfect would 

 be our knowledge of those birds fre- 

 quenting wild and dangerous places, if 

 a Wilson or an Audubon had not launch- 

 ed their canoes on unbroken waters, 

 pitched their tents in lonely forests, 

 kindled their camp fires far from the 

 habitaJ;ions of man, with the roaring of 



