THE OOLOGIST 



155 



Each nest contained seventeen eggs 

 and both were deep depressions lined 

 with bits of old straws and Partridge 

 feathers. Both birds miraculously es- 

 caped after the cutler-bar of the 

 mower had passed over or under 

 them. 



Homer F. Price, 



Payne, Ohio. 



HOW LONG WILL THEY LAST? 



I made a business trip fifty miles 

 south of the border into Lower Cali- 

 fornia and Mexico. 



It was a revelation to see the im- 

 mense flocks of valley Quail. We had 

 three shot guns and while hunting 

 one could regularly flush from one to 

 fifty Quail every three or four 

 minutes. 



Chester C. Lamb, 

 Los Angeles, Calif. 



EXCHANGES 



A correspondent asks us to advise 

 the Oologist Fraternity through the 

 columns of The Oologist, what we un- 

 derstand the rule to be as to the re- 

 sponsibility of breakage of eggs in 

 transit. 



It has always been our understand- 

 ing and policy, and so far as we know 

 the uniform rule for the thirty years 

 or more during which we have made 

 exchanges, that the sender of the 

 specimens is the guarantor of the de- 

 livery, in useable condition and is re- 

 sponsible for the breakage in transit. 

 The broken or damaged specimens to 

 l)e returned to him by the receiver. 



R. M. Barnes. 



MARSH HAWK 

 Today, June 18th, while taking a 

 stroll, I succeeded in finding the aesi 

 and four vigorous young of a Marsh 

 Hawk, that has defied me for years. 

 It was placed fiat on the ground in 

 an upland marsh, surrounded by tall 

 grass and weeds. The old female 



kept flying about overhead, keeping 

 up a continual alarm call, a sort of 

 hitchy, clack, clack, clack, and oc- 

 casionally diving down at my head. 



One day while operating the gang 

 plow, about May 18th, I saw a pair 

 of American Pipit. They were un- 

 afraid and came very close, which 

 made their identification easy. The 

 female had her bill full of worms and 

 I thought at first they must have 

 young. They are the only pair I 

 have seen. 



Geo. W. H. vos Burgh, 



Fall River, Wis. 



A DEVOTED FATHER 



I have been taking notes on a 

 male and female Scissor-tail Fly- 

 catcher that makes their home in a 

 pear tree next door. 



For several summers the happy 

 pair lived next door, and are very 

 nice neighbors. The mother bird 

 cares for her little ones while the 

 father feeds them. 



This summer they started in as 

 usual to begin their cares as a mother 

 and father. The mother had been 

 sitting on a nest of eggs, and only 

 lacked a few days of having them 

 hatched when she happened to mis- 

 fortune. 



She was out looking for food one 

 evening when an old black cat spied 

 her, and being good on the jump, 

 caught her. It didn't take him long 

 to devour her. 



What would become of the eggs? 

 That was what worried the father 

 bird. He did just what he thought 

 was right. He sat on the nest for 

 four days, and one noon, to my sur- 

 prise, there were four little babies in 

 the nest. The father was a busy 

 man, catching bugs for his little, 

 motherless babes. 



I don't wish anyone bad luck but I 

 do hope the black cat won't live out 

 her nine lives. 



Mrs. Ramon Graham, 

 Ft. Worth, Texas. 



