158 



THE OOLOGIST 



AMATEUR OR PROFESSIONAL 



Was very much interested in tlie 

 article in the September number of 

 The Oologist entitled "Widening." 

 Not so very long ago I attended a 

 meeting of a well known entomologi- 

 cal society, whose members for the 

 most part are amateurs, with just a 

 few professionals. The question arose 

 as to what was the difference between 

 a professional and amateur entomolo- 

 gist? Various answers were submit- 

 ted, but I think the best one was as 

 follows: "A professional entomologist 

 receives a salary for his work, while 

 the amateur doesn't." It is nothing new 

 for the professional entomologist to 

 send specimens to the amateur for de- 

 termination. The above does not only 

 apply to the entomologist but to the 

 student in any other branch of natural 

 history. 



Yours truly, 



Philip Laurent. 

 Philadelphia, Pa. 



BEHAVIOR OF SWAINSON HAWKS 



This summer we visited a Swain- 

 son Hawk's nest in this vicinity three 

 times while there were young in the 

 nest, June 11 and 25, and July 9. The 

 first two times the parent Hawk flew 

 away on our approach and was not 

 seen again while we stayed. The 

 third time, however, when the young 

 were nearly ready to fly, the conduct 

 of the parents was radically different; 

 one of them flew about continually, 

 calling and calling, and swooping 

 down towards my husband and daugh- 

 ter who were climbing the tree. After 

 we left the vicinity of the nest we saw 

 both parents flying about. Is this 

 usual for parent birds to be more so- 

 licitous of their young when they are 

 nearly ready to leave the nest than 

 when they are small? 



Margaret M. Nice, 



Norman, Okla. 



NEW INDEX 



Perhaps Editor Barnes will all >vp 

 me to boost myself a little (in the 

 matter of my Index to the A. O. U. 

 List). The other day I had need to 

 look upon the item "Skylark," in my 

 Index. To my dismay, while the title 

 was there, the page was not. By the 

 watch it took me about five minutes 

 to find the title on the pages of the 

 Price List. 



I feel sure that few readers of The 

 Oologist can realize how much time 

 such an index would save them, in the 

 aggregate. Being myself an intensely 

 busy person, I have heaved many a 

 sigh of grateful relief to have an in- 

 dex pasted into my Price List, en- 

 abling me, in a few seconds, to find 

 any title out of the entire twelve hun- 

 dred and — (just wait until all the 

 "millimeter races" have crept in and 

 found an accrediting!) 



One might add: The trifle 1 ask for 

 all the hours of work this Index has 

 cost me, is quite as trifling as is my 

 desire for mere money-making. But, 

 photography comes high these days, 

 and I am ever craving the added 

 equipment that things sold will help 

 to buy. If this be commercialism, — 

 "make the best of it." 



P. B. Peabody, 

 Blue Rapids, Kansas. 



TEXAS BIRD NOTES 1922 



I saw an unusual sight for this local- 

 ity on March 1, 1922. A number of 

 birds came over the house, going 

 south, and on close observation 1 

 found them to be a mixed bunch of 

 Cowbirds and Meadowlarks, flying 

 along together. 



This may be regular occurrence 

 but it's our first time to observe it. 

 Ramon Graham, 

 Ft. Worth, Texas. 



