74 Ornithological Reconnoissance 



return nor could I approach within many feet of him. He was 

 just as shy as any wild grebe and paid no attention to pieces 

 of meat tossed out to him. He saw me then as he has seen 

 men before. I was no longer the great mass standing over 

 him. One is reminded of the little girl at the menagerie who 

 couldn't see the elephant. There he was towering up before 

 her; but he was so big that she could make nothing of him, 

 so she still asked, "Where is the elephant ? " 



AN ORNITHOI.OGICAL RECONNOISSANCE OF THE 

 GRAND RESERVOIR, OHIO, IN 1904. 



BY W. F. HENNINGER 



The fact that in former years the Grand Reservoir, in 

 Mercer and Auglaize counties, Ohio, was an interesting place 

 for birds, as also that in Dawson's recent investigations it re- 

 ceived but scant attention, induced Mr. Karl Heilraann, of 

 Tififin, and myself to take a summer trip to the Reservoir, to 

 find out what the conditions of biid life would be at the pres- 

 ent time. Along the northern side of the Reservoir is the 

 pike from St. Marys to Celina, the tracks of the Lake Erie & 

 Western R. R. and the Western Ohio Traction Co. It is ob- 

 vious that this part of the Reservoir showed nothing of interest 

 concerning birds. The western part from Celina to the south- 

 east showed us one interesting species, the Yellow-bellied 

 Sapsucker, for the finding of this bird at this lime of the year 

 would tend to strengthen Mr. Oberholser's only breeding 

 record for this species in the state. The basis of our work 

 and supplies was Montezuma, on the southwest end of the 

 Reservoir, a quiet little village, the monotony of which is 

 changed only by the advent of a stranger, or an occasional dog 

 fight in which most of the citizens participate with great glee. 

 There we heard that the oil wells in the Reservoir had driven 

 the nesting birds out quicker than anything else. 



The Cormorants had ceased to nest since 1886, the Gad wall 

 even before that. One of the natives told me he had nut seen 

 a young duck for the last four years, though Mallards and 

 Blue-winged Teal were supposed to nest there still. This did 



