THE OOLOGIiST. 



127 



mise the study of birds losses a valua- 

 ble investigator. 



Rev. J. C. Elliott, an old and valued 

 subscriber died at his home in Sand- 

 wich, Illinois, not long since, leaving 

 a large circle of sorrowing friends. 

 Mr. Elliott delighted in spending his 

 spare time in the out door study of 

 the birds, and the fund of general in- 

 formation he accumulated in this man- 

 ner regarding their habits and char- 

 acter is seldom possessed by one in 

 his line of work; and was frequently 

 made use of by him in an illustrative 

 way in his sermons. Something oth- 

 ers might copy with profit. 



Crows. 



On June 20, 1909, two Crows were 

 noticed flying across a field near West 

 Chester, Pennsylvania; one of them 

 had something in its claws. Present- 

 ly it dropped it, when the other crow 

 swooped down and caught the falling 

 object before it had reached the 

 ground. In a short time the second 

 crow dropped it also, and it fell to the 

 ground. Someone who went to see 

 what the crows had been carrying, 

 found a half-grown blackbird, still 

 alive. It was taken home and put in 

 a Robin's nest containing young birds. 

 The old Robins made no protest, but 

 offered it food, though the blackbird 

 would not eat. 



Next morning it was missing from 

 the nest, having likely died from the 

 effects of its fall, and been thrown out 

 by the foster parents. 



R. P. SHARPLES. 



During our recent trip to the Cen- 

 tral part of the Saskatchewan Pro- 

 vince, Canada, we noted the abund- 

 ance of Crows in this territory. Up 

 to the time of making this trip, I had 

 been much of a friend of the crow, 

 believing it to have been maligned and 

 not nearly so injurious as is generally 

 supposed. 



Our observations in Canada have en- 

 tirely changed our views of the Crow. 

 We found dozens of ducks' nests of 

 nearly all species nesting there that 

 had been destroyed by the crows. It 

 was an everyday sight to see one or a 

 half dozen of the black rescals walk- 



ing along the edge of a slough, pond 

 or lake, industriously peering into 

 every bunch of grass and other likely 

 l)laces, in search of the clucks' nests. 

 If the crows in that territory could be 

 exterminated, we verily believe the 

 annual output of wild ducks would be 

 increased not less than ten per 

 cent. — Ed. 



MORE NEWSPAPER ORNITHOL- 

 OGY. 



RICHMOND, Ind., May 8.— (Spe- 

 cial.) — Pennsylvania freight car No. 

 16656, though relieved of its burden 

 and under company rules ready to be 

 reloaded and sent on its endless jour- 

 ney, is being held on a sidetrack iu 

 Richmond awaiting the day that a 

 dainty Mrs. Robin Redbreast shall 

 have hatched out three skyblue eggs 

 that lie at the bottom of a nest on a 

 journal box of the car. 



The nest was built and the eggs 

 laid in New York City, the car hav- 

 ing left "piers 4 and 5, Pennsylvania 

 yards, April 28th," as the tag on the 

 car's side indicates. The car came 

 through to Richmond laden with goods 

 for a wholesale grocery house, and on 

 its arrival. May 1, William Nearnen, 

 car inspector, discovered the nest with 

 Mrs. Robin Redbreast on guard. The 

 car was unloaded and with great care 

 backed on to a siding. 



The journey of more than 600 miles 

 must have been made with the robin 

 on her nest most of the time. Since 

 arriving here, however, she has left 

 her nest at intervals, and the railway 

 boys say she seems to understand 

 she is among friends. 



When the eggs are hatched, if it is 

 believed practical, the young birds and 

 their home may be transferred to the 

 eaves of a nearby building. Rut the 

 chances are that car No. 16656 will 

 be tied up for a month to come, wait- 

 ing the day that the youngt^ters can 

 fly. — Chicago Tribune. 



When a great journal like the Chi- 

 cago Tribune and the Chicago Rec- 

 ord-Herald dish up the above char- 

 acter of stuff, It Is time to stop and 

 wonder. Talk about nature faking! 

 it beats any of the stories even now 

 eminating from Eastern Africa. 



Of course this robin will stick to 



