THE OOLOGIST. 



239 



•cilagc on the tlap, and place tlu-ni in 

 the foiuis, wedge them in and let them 

 ■dry. When I take them out I trim the 

 ■edges. If you do not break them well 

 they will l)ow out of shape as the ones 

 you buy. 



A. C. MuKcnisoN, 

 Kewanee, Illinois. 



Thanksgiving Notes from the Far West. 



To-day being Thanksgiving Da , I 

 have sometime to myself, so take a walk 

 to the suburbs of the eity to stud}' bird 

 life. Although the winter season is 

 tiear at hand, the weather so far has 

 been very mild, and therefore there are 

 a,re but few winter visitors with us; on 

 the other haml there are several sum- 

 mer species still here that evew up for 

 "the absence of the winter bird-?. 



Today i)ird life seems abundant. The 

 first species noted is a Western Winter 

 Wren, skipping about in our hedge. 

 Next comes a Ruby Crowned Kinglet 

 with its scolding note; it stops a mo- 

 ment, then goes on, and is soon out ot 

 sight. The familiar note of the Wes- 

 tern Blue-bird is now he^rd and upon 

 looking upward we see three of them, 

 «nd as many Oregon Juncos flying aftei 

 them. They Hy at one another loi some 

 time us il jj^aying • ag, the Juncos get- 

 ling the best of it. A little farther on 

 Xve come to a Mountain Ash tree full of 

 Ved berries and among them are four 

 C iliforaia Purple! Finches eat;ing the 

 berries. The}' prefer the ones that are 

 •decaj'cil aiul onl}' eat the small seeds 

 inside the Ijerry. In a neighboring tree 

 are a number of Western K()l)iMs. They 

 are more greedy and swallow the ber- 

 Whole. both species seem to be quite 

 tame, allowing me to stand within four 

 -feet of them, but j)erhaps it is the ber- 

 I'ies they are inlere-jted in. As we con- 

 tinue our walk we hear on either side, 

 the song of the Rusty Song Sparrow. 

 Its song is pleasing and no doubt simi- 

 lar to its Kastern cousins. Our atten- 



tion is now attracted by the harsh crv 

 of the California Blue Jay; close behind 

 is its mate. We are still in the city 

 and it seems odd to see a Jay here. 

 Another bird that comes uiuler our no- 

 tice is the Oregon Towhee. It too, looks 

 out of place in the city for like others 

 of the genus, I'lpilo, it delights in being 

 in thick brush where it may be heard 

 scratching noisily among the fallen 

 leaves for insects. 



As we near the woods we meet with 

 the Oregon Junco, California Purple 

 Finch, Myrtle and Audubon's Warbler, 

 (winter plumage) and the Rusty Song 

 Sparrow in large numbers, and in a tree 

 not far away is seen the Oregon Chick:> 

 dee feeding. 



It is now Hearing dinner time so I 

 must return home and help devour 

 Mcleagris domcsticus. I wish the editor 

 and readers of the Oologist could join 

 you. 



You can imagine what a friendly 

 hand-shaking two thousand Ornitholo- 

 gists and and Oologists could have. 

 C.LVDE L. Kei.lkk, 

 Salem, Oregon. 



Nov. 26, '91. 



The Blue-gray Gnat-catoher in Arkansas- 



One of our most interesting summer 

 re.sidents is this little specimen of 

 l)ird life. It arrives here about the 

 twenty-lifth of March. From the top 

 of some tall tree we are lirst nuuhi 

 aware of his presence, by the shrill, 

 wiry notes whicli he is accustomed to 

 utter during the live-long da}', as he 

 Hits in and out among the branches in 

 tireless pursuit of insects. Not a crack 

 or crevice of the tree escapes his keen 

 .scrutiny. At such times he seems to be 

 all hurry and bustle, lus though the 

 work of a life tinu! nuist be crowded 

 into a few short days. 



As the warm days advance his whole 

 nature seems to uiulergo a change. We 

 no longer hear those shrill notes, but 



