THE OOLOQIST 



187 



Important If True. 



The following is a sample of news- 

 paper ornithology which is both silly 

 and dangerous. In the first place, 

 there is not one chance in ten thous- 

 and that the birds referred to are the 

 Passenger Pigeon. In the next place, 

 even if they were, putting a money 

 value of $2,000 or any other sum in 

 print and scattering it broadcast would 

 certainly lead to the extinction of the 

 entire flock if they were the birds sup- 

 posed to be: 



Pascsenger Pigeon Flock Found Feast- 

 ing on Farm. 



Warren, Pa., Oct. 17. — A flock of 25 

 passenger pigeons, a species long 

 thought extinct, has been feasting in 

 the buckwheat patch on the farm of 

 Jesse J. Garber, in Watson township 

 for the past week. Garber, an old-time 

 hunter, identified the birds as the spe- 

 cies which the government has been 

 searching for several years and for a 

 pair of which the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tute offered a reward of .$2,000. An ef- 

 fort will be made to trap the birds. 



The passenger pigeons almost com- 

 pletely disappeared following a terri- 

 fic storm twenty years ago and until 

 recently the only one of the species 

 known to be alive was in the zoolog- 

 ical garden at Cincinnati. This bird 

 died some time ago and it was thought 

 then that the species was gone. Garber 

 expects to realize a small fortune on 

 the birds if he can trap them. — Phila- 

 delphia Inquirer. 



Carolina Rail Accidentally Killed. 



September 29th, 1916, an express 

 man found a Carolina Rail dead in the 

 street. The bird was a mystery to the 

 express man and all who saw it. He 

 brought it to town and everybody was 

 guessing what it was. They called it 

 everything from a Sparrow to a Duck, 

 but no one guessed it. My father came 

 along and overheard the guessing 



match. They asked him what kind 6t 

 a freak bird it was. He said turn it 

 over to me and I will find out for you. 

 He brought it to my Taxidermy Shop 

 and I identified it. I mounted it and 

 will let the guessing bunch guess as 

 much as they like. Upon examination 

 of the body after skinning, I found 

 bruises about the neck and came to 

 the conclusion that it had hit a tele- 

 phone wire at night and was killed in 

 this way. This is the second rail 

 found on the streets here. 



Ramon Graham. 

 Ft. Worth, Texas. 



Vulture Conditions in North Texas. 

 R. Graham, Ft. Worth, Texas. 



A question will soon be asked by 

 many people, — "Where did the Vul- 

 tures go?" 



The answer will be — they were de- 

 stroyed by the people with traps, guns 

 and poisons, when God sent the Vul- 

 ture here to protect these people, from 

 disease, sickness and death. 



I noticed in the September number 

 of THE OOLOGIST a very interesting 

 piece by E. F. Pope of Colmesneil, 

 Texas. He sure hit the key note when 

 he said they were getting scarce. I 

 have noticed that they are going fast 

 and won't last long in this state. Just 

 a few years ago they were more than 

 plentiful and all dead cattle, horses, 

 etc., were kept clean from the prairies 

 by them, but today the few Vultures 

 have plenty to eat and leave plenty to 

 spread disease. For example, a few 

 years ago, when a cow died the Vul- 

 tures would leave nothing but a mass 

 of bones and skin, which stood a slim 

 chance to spread disease, but now 

 days cattle lay and are half eaten up 

 by the few Vultures that are left to 

 destroy disease. If I am not mistaken, 

 sometime ago there was a $5.00 fine 

 for killing a Vulture. As long as this 

 lasted they were quite plentiful, but 



