24 



THE OOLOGIST 



Edward S. Coombs of Boston, and His Mother. 



several years after I noted this bird 

 to the west of tlie river, before it ap- 

 peared on this side, the east. Often I 

 have observed the bird to arise from 

 the ground and alight on some tree or 

 the telephone wires which cross the 

 river at this point, and afterward take 

 flight to some distant field, but never 

 once have I noted it to cross the 

 river. That the Meadowlark migrates 

 by night is evinced by the observa- 

 tions made at night of migrating birds, 

 by O. G. Libby, as reported in Auk Vol. 

 XVI, page 144. These observations 

 were made through a six-inch tele- 

 scope trained on the moon during ex- 

 ceptionally clear nights. Of the birds 

 noted and identified the Blackbirds 

 were the most numerous and next to 

 them came the Meadowlarks, several 

 flocks being observed. 



Fur and Feathers. 



A few days ago in the late fall I had 

 a two week's vacation which I spent 

 mostly in the woods. I wanted to get 



a few nice skins to make a couple of 

 sets of furs so I had a few good trap- 

 ping sets fixed up quite a ways back 

 in the woods. I had good luck or suc- 

 cess or both during this vacation and 

 had several very successful days. One 

 of the best days I had on this va- 

 cation was a nice still sunny day. 



I arose early and after quite a tramp 

 in the dark reached my starting-in 

 place just as day was breaking. As 

 I reached the turning in point I met 

 a skunk in the middle of the road and 

 came near to walking over him but 

 luckily saw him in time. Needless to 

 say I detoured and gave him plenty 

 of room. I sat down awhile until it 

 was light enough to see good and was 

 well entertained by the hooting of a 

 pair of Horned Owls. When it was 

 light enough to see to shoot 1 began 

 working back in on an old woods road. 

 As the leaves and nuts were about 

 all down I watched the ground close 

 and soon saw a squirrel start off at 

 full speed. I raced him up a tree 



