THE 00L0GI8T 



Bannister, the negro guide, the only 

 English subject present, as a deputy 

 game warden, and thus brought about 

 the first arrest of the kind ever made. 



Notes From Arlington, Mass. 



One day last May while standing 

 under the willows en the shore of Spy 

 Pond watching a Yellow Warbler 

 building its nest, I saw a crow a short 

 distance away suddenly drop from the 

 top of a stump to the ground and com- 

 mence picking. I hurried toward it 

 and on reaching the spot I found a 

 Robin's nest that had been in the de- 

 cayed side of the stump, tipped over 

 and on the ground bits of egg shell 

 and a few drops of yolk and a al- 

 bumen. The Yellow Warbler's nest 

 was destroyed in the same way later. 

 I found it dislodged and the eggs gone. 



Now within a hundred feet of this 

 Robin's nest were three Purple 

 Grackles' nests, eacli containing eggs. 

 Within a hundred yards there were a 

 dozen more, some built in the slender 

 tops of the tall willows, others lower 

 down or in the bushes. Those easy 

 of access 1 could look into and watch 

 and those higher up I could often see 

 the long tail of the Crackle protruding 

 over the edge and later on observed 

 them feeding their young. 1 visited 

 this locality many times this spring, 

 always saw the Crows and often saw 

 them in close proximity to the 

 Grackles nest. Yet the Grackles did 

 not seem to be disturbed by their 

 presence. From close observations 1 

 am confident they were in no wise 

 molested by the Crows. Question? 

 Can the Purple Grackle effectually 

 defend its nest from the ravages of 

 the Crow or have Crows more respect 

 for Quiscalus? 



H. B. Holbrook, 

 Arlington, Mass. 



Tree Swallows In the Autumn 



Although the following notes give 

 no more than glimpses of the Tree 

 Swallow at the time when it is pre- 

 paring to leave New England and be- 

 gin its southward migration, it is 

 hoped that they will also call to mind 

 the spirit of happy playfulness in 

 which the birds make the journey, as 

 well as the orderly precision of the 

 impetus whicli drives them onward. 

 The notes were written when the birds 

 were in view, or immediately after- 

 wards, on their main line of travel, 

 the sea coast. 



Aug. 13-16, 1915. Ipswich. We saw 

 Tree Swallows in large numbers on 

 the 14th and 15th, chiefly gatliered in 

 pood-sized companies of twenty to 

 forty birds, sitting close together on 

 the wires by the roadsides. The birds 

 were most numerous in the three or 

 four miles of country between the 

 town and the sand hills. Here, there 

 vscre perhaps half a dozen such fiocks 

 which circled out over the fields as 

 we approached in the car and returned 

 to the perches on the wires after we 

 had passed. We saw no general 

 flocking; the effect was rather that 

 each local colony had kept to itself, 

 and that the migratory instinct had 

 not yet driven these birds together in- 

 to a great band. However, it was ap- 

 parent tliRt some individuals had al- 

 ready started on their southerly flight, 

 for throughout the afternoon of the 

 15th, Swallows continually passed 

 along the sea-shore, flying southward, 

 either over the beach or over the 

 ocean a short distance from the shore. 

 The majority of tliese Swallows were 

 Iridoprocne, perhaps ^^'^^. the re- 

 mainder were Barn Swallows. Once 

 or twice, a Swallow, as it coursed 

 along the beach, swooped at a small 

 Shorebird which, starting into the air, 

 led the Swallow a chase in which 

 there was twieting arud turning, rising 



