THE OOLOGIST 



149 



MANY PELICANS KILLED AND 

 WOUNDED 



Today as Mr. K. B. King, Mr. R. H. 

 Larner and myself were discussing 

 birds, migration, etc., Mr. Larner told 

 me of a Pelican disaster. 



He said in the spring of 1919 he 

 lived in Erath County, Texas, and one 

 night a big hail storm killed and 

 wounded many birds, among which 

 were many White Pelicans. They 

 were found scattered all over the town 

 and surrounding country. When day- 

 light came Pelicans were flopping up 

 and down the streets and everybody 

 did not know what had happened un- 

 til someone said these birds were 

 wounded and killed during the hail 

 storm last night. 



As it happened 1 figure that these 

 birds, about two hundred, were flying 

 over Erath County just as the hail 

 storm started and it downed the 

 whole bunch of them. What it did 

 not kill, it wounded so badly that most 

 of them died. 



Ramon Graham, 

 Ft. Worth, Texas. 



HOW I KEEP THE BIRDS 



My bird refuge located near the cen- 

 ter of the city, consists of about two 

 acres of land and my residence. 



On this plat of ground we have 

 thirty-eight large oak trees, three ash, 

 five walnut and one cascara tree . 



On the west side there are some 

 forty fruit trees, cherries, pears, 

 grapes, plums, apple trees and English 

 walnuts. 



On the east side we have berry 

 bushes and a rose garden of about 

 100 bushes. 



Scattered among these trees are 

 about fifteen bird houses. Wrens, 

 Blue Birds and Flickers. The houses 

 are now being occupied by two pair J 



of West House Wrens, two pair Blue- 

 Birds, six pair Violet Green Swallows, 

 and a R. S. Flicker. 



The ground breeders are the Ore- 

 gon Towhee, Nuttall Sparrow, Rusty 

 Song Sparrow. The Goldfinches, Chip- 

 ping Sparrow and Robins nest in the 

 oak trees and orchard of which there 

 are several pairs each. The Humming 

 Birds nest in the oaks and spend most 

 of their time in the rose garden. 



A self-automatic feeding box is used 

 during the fall and winter and three 

 large trays for water and bathing pur- 

 poses are placed in different locations. 

 During the summer these bath tubs 

 are in constant use,. 



The Wrens and Blue Birds are nest- 

 ing within seventy feet of the door of 

 my residence. The only contentions 

 I have is to keep the English Sparrow 

 out. 



From the list we find some thirteen 

 specie of birds nesting. 



The two last seasons have seen a 

 pair of Russet-backed Thrush on the 

 premises, which undoubtedly had a 

 nest. 



During the winter season we have 

 constantly with us the Robins and 

 Varied Thrush and West's Evening 

 Grosbeaks, Blue Birds, R. S. Flicker, 

 Brewer's Black Birds, Red-wing Black- 

 birds, W. Meadow Larks, Oregon 

 Junco, Oregon Towhee, Rusty Song 

 Sparrow, Chickadee, Nuthatch, and 

 several species of Woodpecker. 



In case of the unusual occurrence of 

 snow and very cold weather, when 

 the ground is covered, my two special 

 feeding places are crowded with these 

 birds. Sometimes as many as one hun- 

 dred birds being present at one time 

 and every morning I find the birds 

 waiting for their usual supply of food. 



Nearly at all times of the year we 



'lave a pair of Screech Owls calling at 



light, but have not induced them to 



y aest here yet. 



I What is being done here can be 



