48 



THE OOLOGIST 



When I catch a glimpse of his great 

 dusky, vanishing form, the dials of 

 time are reversed and I am in the 

 primeval wilderness ere Columbus 

 dreamed the world was round; ere 

 liberty rocked the babe of a new na- 

 tion in her rude pioneer cradle ;ere 

 the simple Concord Minute Men "fired 

 the shot heard round the world"; 1 

 am in the forest primeval, savagery is 

 afoot and the moccasin print of the 

 redman is on the leaves. 



I fancy the Great Northern Wood- 

 pecker must have held a high place 

 in the mythology of aboriginal na- 

 tions. He was perhaps, the big medi- 

 cine who announced the arrival of 

 spring throughout the forests. When 

 "Wa-Wa" the wild goose flew north- 

 ward, imagine the effect as master 

 after master took up the gavel and 

 rapped the great forest house to ord- 

 er, mile after mile, on and on, north- 

 ward and still northward as spring 

 swept from the Gulf away up into the 

 Canadas! The loud roll of the Log- 

 cock on and on! 



Copy. 



We need copy, and we need it bad- 

 ly; especially do we need short newsy 

 notes. With spring awakening and 

 the birds beginning to sing, surely is 

 the time when our thoughts turn bird- 

 ward and some good newsy notes 

 should be forthcoming. THE OOLO- 

 GIST and its readers will appreciate 

 being remembered with them. 



Books Received. 

 From Tasmania. 

 One of the most interesting of the 

 many publications that reach our desk 

 is the annual "Easter Camp Out" num- 

 ber of the Tasmanian Field Natural- 

 ists' Club. It is a well gotten up re- 

 port, including lists of members, de- 

 scriptive matter and illustrations, giv- 

 ing a history every year of the annual 



outing of the Tasmania Field Natural- 

 ists Club, which in 1914 was held at 

 Wineglass Bay, Tasmania. 



Not the least interesting part of this 

 publication is the illustrations therein 

 contained, from which may be obtain- 

 ed a good idea of the country visited 

 and of the membership of the club. 



This winter the Club, more than one 

 hundred strong chartered the Steam- 

 er "Koomeela," a vessel of 200 tons 

 and sailed down the coast of Wine- 

 glass Bay, leaving at midnight (this is 

 noon in that island), April 9th, and 

 returning the following Tuesday night. 

 The report of this expedition is accom- 

 panied by numerous scientific reports 

 of the results obtained, and it most 

 certainly must have been a pleasure 

 to those who participated. 



FROM TASMANIA. 

 BIRDS OF LAKE COUNTY, ILLI- 

 NOIS, by Henry K. Coale, 1910. 



This is a separate, taken from th* 

 History of Lake County, and is a well 

 prepared local list of 269 numbers. Be- 

 ing prepared by as thorough a scient- 

 ist as Mr Coale, it is needless to say 

 it is absolutely accurate, and a credit- 

 able production. 



Perhaps but few of our present read- 

 ers know that the editor of this list, 

 Mr. Coale, spent many years gather- 

 ing together one of the most complete 

 collections of North American Bird 

 skins in existence, and later disposed 

 of the same to the British Museum 

 where they are now lodged. Since 

 this transfer he has again started and 

 has prosecuted for a good many years 

 the making of a second and similar 

 collection, and now has a magnificent 

 assemblage. 



We remember meeting Mr. Coale 

 way back in 1887 and from that day 

 until December, 1914, we had never 

 seem him, though having had frequent 

 correspondence with him. 



