74 



THE OOLOGIST 



hopper Sparrows were seen about the 

 farm, also some Dickcissels. 



I found the neighboring farm yards 

 to liave a like number of birds. One 

 farm, however, having usual trees but 

 no buildings had but one Brown 

 Thrasher's nest and one Dickcissel's. 



This country, Saline County, was at 



one time a great prairie, except along 



rivers and water courses, the birds 



coming as the country was settled up. 



Albert J. Kirn. 



The American Vulture. 



Have you not noticed a marked de- 

 crease in the number of Black and 

 Turkey Vultures in the last year or 

 so. Not only have I noticed the de- 

 crease of one of our most common 

 birds but also have had it brought to 

 my attention by other naturalists of 

 this section of the state as well as the 

 southern portions. This does not 

 mean that they are almost all gone 

 but that they have begun to diminish 

 in number greatly. I first noticed 

 this a couple years ago and it has in- 

 creased until now it is very noticeable. 



Even though declared disease car- 

 riers by scientists, why should we sit 

 calmly and "see this bird of prey be- 

 come extinct so that our children will 

 look back on it as we look on the Cal- 

 ifornia Vulture and several other spe- 

 cies that I could name with ease and 

 that are now almost extinct but were 

 once plentiful. Everything is for some 

 good purpose. Why not the Vulture? 



Let us hear how your notes have 

 run for the last couple years so that 

 we may determine whether this de- 

 crease is universal or if it is only 

 local. My last trip was only for a day 

 but in a whole day in the country i 

 only recorded having seen five Turkey 

 Vultures. 



Leverette Fitzpatrick. 

 Waco, Texas. 



A Bird Roof Garden. 



Since January I have been finding 

 large numbers of Horned and Prairie 

 Horned Larks, Snowfiakes, Sparrows, 

 Crows, Pheasants and Juncos and 

 have secured in the meantime about 

 one hundred fifty fine negatives of 

 these birds in all sorts of places. 



One unique photo shows a Lapland 

 Longspur feeding on weed seeds in 

 company with female Redwing Black- 

 bird and a Snowflake. Other photos 

 show Larks, Snowfiakes and Spar- 

 rows eagerly feeding on weed seed 

 (clear weed seed obtained from grain 

 elevators and I fed eight bushel of 

 it). 



Also obtained many photographs il- 

 lustrating spiteful attitudes, playful 

 antics and other natural expressions 

 of a bird's happy disposition. 



Besides these ground feeding spots 

 1 have a very choice assortment of 

 old shrubs, evergreen, a log, an apple 

 tree, branch with rotten apples attach- 

 ed, all placed on the roof of my front 

 porch and as I write this I look from 

 by den window and within six feet 

 of me are now feeding a noisy lot of 

 Tree Sparrows who brust forth into 

 a clear sweet whistling melody at fre- 

 quent intervals. Several spic and span 

 slate colored Juncos are also there, 

 trilling incessantly. One of these 

 Juncos has been so unfortunate as to 

 nearly lose all the dark feathers of 

 his tail, so that his tail is nearly all 

 snow white on top, and so I call him 

 silver-tail. He has visited this roof- 

 garden now for over two weeks. 



Another bird who I am able to know 

 every time is what I call the Black 

 Chickadee. This Chickadee's sides 

 and flanks are wholly black leaving 

 but a narrow breast or belly streak of 

 normal color. This bird's sides are 

 as dark and pure colored as the dairk- 

 est Junco. 



