246 



THE OOLOGIST. 



Louisiana and Alabama and in the In- 

 dian Territory. 



Among a collection of skins of Paro- 

 quets, Lories, Macaws etc., in my cab- 

 inet of which I am justly proud I find 

 only one skin of this bird. It came 

 from the vicinity of Lake Okeechobee 

 and was collected in 1888. A descrip- 

 tion of this skin may be interesting to 

 some of my readers so I will here give 

 it. The colors are very striking: body 

 green; head j^ellow: face red; bill horn- 

 color (white in life); feet same as bill; 

 wings variegated with blue and yellow. 

 The measurements taken at the time 

 the bird was killed and which accom- 

 pany the skin are as follows: length 13. 

 00; extent 21.00; wing 7.25; tail 7.00 



Of late much has been written con- 

 cerning the breeding habits of this 

 Conure, but about all that seems to be 

 known is that it nests in Florida among 

 the almost inaccessible swamps of that 

 region, in coloiftes of several pairs, and 

 that it is not particular in regard to its 

 mesting site but selects impartially hol- 

 low trees and a knot on some large cy- 

 pi-ess or live oak on which to place its 

 apology for a nest. 



Coues in his "Key to N. A. Birds," 

 saj's, *'eggs whitish, 1.40x 1.05, ellipti- 

 cal shape, rough in texture. 



Let us hope it will be many j'ears be- 

 fore this, the most hard^"^ of all paro- 

 quets and the only species found inhab- 

 iting the United States, will be exter- 

 minated. Before closing this short es- 

 say I would like to call your attention 

 to W. T. Green's recent work on par- 

 rots entitled "Parrots in Captivity." 

 In this work, (Vol.. [I, p. 84.) you Avill 

 find quite an interesting article on the 

 Carolina Paroquet, Conurus earoUncn- 

 sis. 



Thad. Surber, 

 White Sulphur Springs, W. Va. 

 Nov. 10, 1891. 



Bartram's Sandpiper. 

 ( Bartramia longicauda. ) 



On June 19, 1890 a companion ancl 

 myself were out after specimens on the 

 prairie sun-ounding Boone, Iowa. My 

 companion wanted a duck and after he 

 had shot one we struck out in a north.. 

 ev\y direction. We had poor success un.. 

 til we had started to return home find- 

 ing nothing but Black-birds and Mea, 

 dow Lark's nests. 



We had just came out from a pond 

 after searching for Rails' nests when 

 suddenly a bird sprang up from under 

 my feet and fluttered along the ground 

 a short distance in front of us. My 

 canijianion not being much of an Oolo- 

 gist shot^ier immediately for as he told 

 me afterwards "he hated to see her suf- 

 fer." 



I was not paying attention to him at 

 the time being busy looking for the nest 

 and I soon found it. 



It was placed in a slight uulined hol- 

 low and contained four eggs badlj^ in- 

 cubated. They were of a dirty buff 

 color, thickly spotted near the large 

 end with umber and yellowish brown. 

 They average 1.83x1.26. 



This bird is a favorite game bird in 

 Iowa, large numbers of them being 

 killed annually for the table. 



Generally when they are feeding a 

 solitary individual may be seen perch» 

 ed upon a neighboring fence post, 

 after the manner of a Meadow Lark, 

 probably acting as a sentinel. 



A. Fak.mer. 



The Horned Grebe- 



[Podiccps cornritiis.) 



The Horned (irebe is an abundant 

 resident in the marshes of the Detroit 

 river, and St. Clair Flats. It breeds 

 in considerable numbers below Fight' 

 ing Island in the Detroit river. My 



