224 



THS OOLOOtSt 



Brown Thrashers — Several 



Marsh Hawk^-One 



Wood Pewee — Not common. 



Whippoorwill — One asleep on a high 

 limb. 



Oven bird — One or two. 



Bronze Grackle — One 



Northern Hairy Woodpeckr — One. 



Rose Breasted Grosbeak — Two or 

 three seen. 



Black Throated Blue Warblers — 

 One. 



Song Sparrow — Common. 



Eastern Meadow Lark — Common. 



Western Meadow Lark — Thought I 

 heard one. 



Dated September, 1919. 



Geo. H. VosBurgh. 

 Columbus, Ohio. 



Where Birds are Actually Used as 

 Lamps. 



The price of coal-oil is a matter of 

 no interest to the inhabitants of the 

 island of St. Kilda, a favorite of the 

 animated oilcan, the fulmar. So rich 

 in oil in this sea bird that the natives 

 simply pass a wick through its body 

 and use it as a lamp. 



The oil is also one of the principal 

 articles exported from the island. 



It is found in the birds' stomachs, 

 is amber-colored, and has a peculiarly 

 nauseous odor. The old birds are said 

 to feed the young with it, and when 

 they are caught or attached they 

 lighten themselves by disgorging it. 



In St. Kilda it is legal to kill the 

 fulmars only during one week of the 

 year; but during that week from eigh- 

 teen to twenty thousand birds are de- 

 stroyed. 



The mutton-bird of the Antarctic 

 also carries its oil in the stomach and 

 can eject this oil through the nostrils 

 as a means of defence against ene- 

 mies. 



Quantities of mutton-birdg are 

 slaughtered every year for their oil on 



the coasts of Tasmania and New Zeal- 

 and. In its composition and proper- 

 ties this oil closely resembles sperm 

 oil. — San Francisco Chronicle. 



W. A. Strong, 

 San Jose, Cal. 



Habits of Red-Tailed Hawk. 

 The red-tailed hawk, or "hen-hawk," 

 as it is commonly called, is one of the 

 best known of all birds of prey, and is 

 a widely distributed species of great 

 economic importance. Its habit of sit- 

 ting on some prominent limb or pole 

 in the open, or flying with measured 

 wing beat over prairies and sparsely 

 wooded areas on the lookout for its 

 favorite prey, causes it to be noticed 

 by the most indifferent observer. Al- 

 though not as omnivorous as the red- 

 shouldered hawk, it feeds on a variety 

 of food, as small mammals, snakes, 

 frogs, insects, birds, crawfish, centi- 

 pedes, and even carrion. In regions 

 where rattlesnakes abound it destroys 

 considerable numbers of the reptiles. 

 Although it feeds to a certain extent 

 on poultry and birds, it is nevertheless 

 entitled to general protection on ac- 

 count of the insistent warfare it wages 

 against mice and other small rodents 

 and insects that are so destructive to 

 young orchards, nursery stock, and 

 farm produce. Out of 530 stomachs 

 examined, 457, or 85 per cent contain- 

 ed the remains of mammal pests such 

 as field mice, pine mice, rabbits, sev- 

 eral species of ground squirrels, 

 pocket gophers, and cotton rats, and 

 only 62 contained the remains of poul- 

 try or game birds. 



Citizen. 



San Jose, Cal, 



—The Suburban 

 W. A. Strong, 



