128 



THE OOLOGIST 



European War and the Birds. 



Major NicoUs of the British Army 

 has long been an ardent student of or- 

 nithology and collector of oological 

 specimens. For many years he was 

 located on the Bermuda Islands, and 

 has been a reader of THE OOLOGIST 

 far a long, long time. Our readers 

 will be under obligations to him for 

 the following: 



"You asked me sometime ago if 

 I would relate my bird experience at 

 the Front: I'm afraid the part of the 

 Front I was on (Loos) was far too 

 noisy for any birds. There wasn't one 

 to be seen anywhere; in fact, near the 

 firing line there was no animal vis- 

 ible at all; that was a most curious 

 effect. If one were to stand on any 

 elevated place (out of bullet range!) 

 and look over the trench region which 

 was all in the plain, not one single 

 living thing could be seen, and yet of 

 course one knew that the ground one 

 was looking at held simply tens of 

 thousands. It made one feel very 

 queer. The only bird I saw near the 

 firing line was dead, and the sight 

 was rather pathetic. In a small vil- 

 lage where, like nearly all other small 

 villages, every single house is a shape- 

 less ruin, in one house which had no 

 roof, and in fact only had two rooms 

 left, one over the other, and two walls, 

 in the top room were two rather pa- 

 thetic articles: a baby's bassinette and 

 a little cage lying on its side with a 

 dead canary in it. One of course 

 couldn't get at the room as there was 

 no ladder at hand, and staircase and 

 everything else had as usual, been 

 blown away, so I turned my field 

 glasses on to see what kind of bird 

 the poor little mite had been. 



"The only experience I had in the 

 oological line was that a large box of 

 eggs from Salt Lake City (sent by Dr. 

 D. Moore Lindsey) reached me in my 

 Billet which was a ruined farm. They 



seemed rather incongruous in such 

 surroundings, and I had to bring them 

 back when I came home on promotion. 

 "I am expected to be sent out again 

 pretty shortly now, and if I should 

 happen to come across any bird life 

 I will of course note down data; but 

 I'm afraid I am not likely to see any- 

 thing. There is far too much "fright- 

 fulness" in every direction for any 

 bipeds except the featherless ones! I! 

 "Oliver C. M. Nicolls, 



"Major R. G. A." 



From British Guiana. 



A letter from Paul G. Howes, who 

 is at the Tropical Research Station of 

 the New York Zoological Society at 

 Kalacoon, Mazaruni River, British 

 Guiana, , under date of June 5th, gives 

 us among other things, the following: 



"We are situated on top of a hill 

 overlooking this beautiful, mile wide 

 river, which is dotted with islands 

 grown with beautiful tropical foliage. 

 At our back door lies the virgin jun- 

 gle, and by walking six miles we can 

 be in forest that probably no white 

 man has ever visited. 



Hunting is superb and we live al- 

 most entirely on game, including deer, 

 currasow, tinamou, partridge, pigeon, 

 agonti, monkey, laba, and tapir. Often 

 while hunting, we run across an Indian 

 hunter, naked except for his little 

 scarlet band about the waist. His skiu 

 is the most beautiful copper color, and 

 to see him moving noiselessly under 

 the forest giants among the tangle of 

 lianos and jungle vegetation, bow and 

 ai'rows ready, it is a sight that leaves 

 a deep impression and makes one glad 

 to be alive. 



"We have had tremendous success 

 in our ornithological work. I have se- 

 cured over 250 perfect. 5x7 photo- 

 graphs of birds, nests, eggs, animals, 

 vegetation and insects in all phases of 

 their life, and the studies made by 



