THE OOLOGIST. 



61 



bird. Mr. Reinecke makes the state- 

 ment that the Woodcock arrives in 

 the vicinity of Buffalo about the last 

 week in March, and immediately be- 

 gins nesting; and notes the occurrence 

 of five eggs in one nest; which so far 

 as the observations of the writer of 

 this goes, is exceedingly unusual. 



As Mr. Reinecke intimates in his pa- 

 per, the Woodcock is rapidly approach- 

 ing extinction, and something should 

 be done, not only to afford protection 

 to this bird when wintering in the 

 South, as he suggests, but in my judg- 

 ment, it should be everywhere pro- 

 tected by a continuous closed season, 

 and the shooting of the Woodcock 

 should be stopped absolutely for at 

 least ten years. 



In the early memory of the writer, it 

 was a very common bird along the 

 Illinois River, and it was nothing un- 

 usual for a hunter to procure a dozen 

 in a day, and its nest was frequently 

 found. Yet it is so nearly wiped out 

 of this vicinity that the last and only 

 Woodcock seen by the writer in more 

 than five years was one August even- 

 ing in 1907 within the corporate lim- 

 its of Lacon. It is a gentle, docile, 

 beautiful bird and should be protected 

 from the fate that seems to await it. 



DID YOU KNOW? 



That THE OOLOGIST has taken 

 Horace Greeley's advice and gone 

 West? 



***** 



That it is now located within two 

 hundred miles of the center of popula- 

 tion of the United States? 



:^ ^. :^ :|e :J: 



That it is now located within about 

 three hundred miles of the geograph- 

 ical center of the United States? 



:{: :4: ^ iic 4: 



That it is the only medium in the 

 United States between those interest- 

 ed in Birds' Nests, Eggs and Skins? 



:i>c sjt :te 3|: :{c 



That a magazine that has existed 



for twenty-six years must have some 



usefulness as well as friends? 

 * * * * * 



That the Illinois Valley in which 

 the new home of THE OOLOGIST is 



situated, is "by the books" one of the 

 great migration highways of our 

 birds? 



That it will be bigger, brighter, new- 

 sier and better than ever in the fu- 

 ture, and only costs fifty cents a year, 

 and that you ought to get busy and 

 send in your renewal, and at least one 

 new^ subscriber to help push it along? 



Disasters Caused by a Horned Owl. 



Very recently in Northern Califor- 

 nia a horned owl in carrying a rabbit 

 to his nest, says a writer in the Chil- 

 dren's Visitor, struck one of the high 

 tension wires on the trolley line be- 

 tween Redding and Middle Creek, 

 while the rabbit hit the lower wire. 

 This produced a "short circuit" with 

 the following results: 



The short-circuiting caused a fire in 

 the great hoisting works of the White 

 Oak Mines, near Shasta, totally de- 

 stroying them at a loss of five thous- 

 and dollars. It also caused a fire in 

 the Hotel Lorenz in Redding. The ho- 

 tel was partly burned and many guests 

 had a very narrow escape for their 

 lives. However, the fire was extin- 

 guished by the Redding fire depart- 

 ment after a desperate fight and a 

 heavy loss. 



At the time the White Oak Mine 

 was closed down, and only a single 

 watchman was on the ground. The 

 news of the burning works soon reach- 

 ed Shasta, and a young girl ran to 

 the nearest telei)hone station and at- 

 tempted to inform the fire department 

 at Redding of the fire. The short-cir- 

 cuited power line striking the tele- 

 phone line knocked the girl senseless 

 — in fact, nearly killed her — besides 

 very badly burning her. However, she 

 recovered. 



TAKE NOTICE. 



Examine the number on the wrap- 

 per of your Oologist. It denotes the 

 time your subscription expires. Re- 

 member we must be notified if you 

 wish it discontinued and all arrear- 

 ages be paid. 



261 — your subscription expires with 

 this issue. 



269 — your subscription expires with 

 December issue, 1909. 



Address all communications to 

 THE OOLOGIST. Lacon, 111. 



