THB OOLOGIST 



101 



it and later an empty nest. One par- 

 ticular pair in another part of the 

 woods took up much of my patience 

 and no little time, keeping me from 

 their nest. 



Albert J. Kirn. 

 Copan, Okla. 



An Appreciation. 



George Miller, naturalist and taxi- 

 dermist, died at his home in York, 

 Pennsylvania, at 9:15 p. m. Thursday, 

 May 13th, at the age of eighty years; 

 pneumonia following an attack of grip 

 from which he had been convalescing, 

 caused his death. 



Mr. Miller had been a reader of 

 THE OOLOGIST for thirty years. He 

 became a subscriber when the first 

 number of the paper was issued. "When 

 the writer called on Mr. Miller on 

 May Day, the venerable naturalist had 

 just recovered from an attack of grip. 

 THE OOLOGIST was discussed and 

 Mr. Miller brought out several early 

 copies of the paper. He declared that 

 he found THE OOLOGIST better in 

 recent years than it ever had been in 

 all the years of its publication. He 

 spoke enthusiastically of the maga- 

 zine. 



I left some specimens with him for 

 mounting, turtles and other reptiles. 

 He spoke of collecting trips he had 

 in prospect. This was the last time 

 I ever saw him alive. 



The writer had known George Mil- 

 ler 33 years and had always found 

 him enthusiastic and thorough in his 

 work as a naturalist. Though he had 

 not spent many days in school, his 

 knowledge of nature was intimate. 

 He possessed and knew how to use in- 

 telligently a well stocked library of 

 books on natural history subjects. His 

 reading and field work had enabled 

 him to acquire a vast fund of scienti- 

 fic information which rendered him a 

 profitable companion to the student. 

 Wadsworth M. George, 



Starling. 



I read an article in a Sportsman's 

 magazine today entitled "Should the 

 Starling be Outlawed," in which the 

 writer says they should have protec- 

 tion. 



I don't believe it necessary to pro- 

 tect the Starling, because even though 

 the season for them is open all year, 

 they are increasing very rapidly and 

 more than holding their own. Besides 

 that they are quite shy and will fly 

 away at the least alarm and not allow 

 a person to get within gunshot in the 

 woods. I have shot a number of them 

 and know that they will get up and fly 

 away before you can get near them, 

 in nine instances out of ten. Of 

 course near the city and even in the 

 busy parts of the city you can ap- 

 proach very near to them, sometimes 

 within a few feet, the same as Spar- 

 rows, they seem to know that you 

 can't shoot them. There are a few 

 hunters shoot them anyway. As I 

 hear they are tough eating, besides 

 shells are dear and it isn't worth while 

 to waste them on Starlings. I stuff 

 most of them I shoot. 



They are also annoying because 

 they nest and roost about the houses. 

 I was out in the woods today and on 

 my way coming home saw a flock of 

 about two hundred or more of them. 

 It was after sunset and they had most 

 likely made up their minds to roost 

 there. It was right in the front yard 

 of a large house in the city and they 

 made an awful racket with their 

 whistling, that they kept up constant- 

 ly. A few weeks ago when I was out 

 to Jamaica and noticed that almost 

 every church I passed had large 

 flocks of Starlings around them that 

 were going to roost in the top under 

 the steeple. At one church there was 

 at least five hundred Starlings. They 

 get in the top through the shutters. 

 The noise they made as they flew 



