THE OOLOGIST 



108 



can on a May morning. A Phoebe, 

 whose nest I found earlier in the 

 evening, plastered to the wall of a 

 cement culvert, is perched upon a 

 twig over the stream and seems in- 

 terested in something in the water. 



A Flicker, working its way up the 

 side of a tall sycamore, next attracts 

 my attention. I can hear a cousin of 

 his, the Red-head, scolding from a tele- 

 phone pole along the road. 



Ah, ha, whom have we here? a 

 Scarlet Tanager and wife, first ones 

 I have seen this season. They do not 

 stay long for away they go to another 

 tree, he in his livery of scarlet and 

 black and she in her modest and in- 

 conspicuous suit of olive green. I see 

 this pair in this neighborhood every 

 season yet have never been able to 

 find their nesting site or nest. 



Lakeward I can hear the sweet 

 "Oak-a-lee" of the Red-shouldered 

 Blackbird, where he is swaying on the 

 top of an old stunted willow whose 

 roots are under water most of the 

 year, and keeping a weather eye 

 towards the tree where his wife is 

 brooding, lest enemies approach. 

 Prom somewhere deeper in the woods 

 I can hear the call of the Chewink 

 or Towhee and over the hill in the 

 meadow, I can hear the familiar notes 

 of the Dickcissel. 



Over head, with a swish of wings, 

 pass the flock of Blue-winged Teal I 

 saw on the lake as I walked along the 

 shore. Something or someone must 

 have frightened them off the water, 

 but they do not intend to leave for 

 they swing back. I counted just six 

 of each sex. 



A tall Black Jack Oak, standing 

 near, which very recently had been 

 struck by a bolt of lightning and whose 

 trunk had been completely circled by 

 the bolts downward course, is being 

 inspected by a Black-capped Chicka- 

 dee. This little fellow does not seem 



to care whether his head is up or 

 down for he goes about his work with 

 unconcern and with occasionally a 

 pronouncing of its name. 



The shadows are lengthening, for 

 the sun is nearing the crown of the 

 hill and I must needs arise and go 

 back to town, but I would like to 

 tary here in this delightful spot a 

 while longer. 



Ralph J. Donahue, 

 May 7, 1919 Bonner Springs, Kan. 



An Unusual Raven's Nest 



You may be interested in the unusual 

 note of finding an American Raven's 

 nest with seven young birds, April 27, 

 1919, seventy-five feet high in a tower 

 of an electrical transmission line 

 carrying 130,000 volts crossing the 

 alkali flats west of this city. 



J. Wolcott Thompson, 



Salt Lake City, Utah. 



Collecting In British Columbia 

 J. A. Munro 



Of all Canada, British Columbia, un- 

 doubtedly offers the largest and most 

 interesting field for pioneer investiga- 

 tions along zoological lines. Various 

 field parties have collected in the vi- 

 cinity of settlements and along val- 

 leys and rivers that are easy of access, 

 and certain limited areas have been 

 well worked, but the vast hinterland 

 of trailless, timbered hills in virgin 

 ground. 



The several life-zones with their 

 characteristic fauna and fiora, come as 

 a relief to the easterner, accustomed 

 to a less diversified topographj; and 

 the less plastic faunal forms. Here, 

 one can follow spring up the mountain 

 slopes or pass through two or more 

 life-zones in a few hours. An excell- 

 ent illustration of the effect of altitude 

 on plant and animal life is afforded 

 in the lower Okanagan District; — 

 from a semi-desert of sage-brush and 



