188 



THE OOLOGIST 



American Gulls and their Allies, by 

 Wells W. Cooke, U. S. Dept. of Agri- 

 culture, Bulletin No. 292. 



This Bulletin, released October 25, 

 1915, is one of the best distributory 

 papers that has come to our notice for 

 a long, long time. Particularly bene- 

 ficial to the Oologist is that part of 

 the paper showing the breeding places 

 of the various members of the family, 

 on skeleton maps. 



We opine an examination and com- 

 parison of these maps with the data 

 that has been sent broadcast with 

 various species of Gull, etc., eggs in 

 years gone by will cause some mis- 

 giving in the minds of those who 

 imagine they possess or have possess- 

 ed some rare specimens belonging to 

 this family of birds, and may yet bring 

 the distributors of some of these spe- 

 cimens more or less prominently in- 

 to the public print. 



However thorough the paper may 

 be, and it appears to be very thor- 

 ough, we doubt if it is entirely com- 

 plete. One glaring omission of which 

 the editor has personal knowledge, is 

 the omission of the breeding of the 

 Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis) 

 on Big Quill Lake, Saskatchewan, 

 Canada, where the writer and John 

 F. Ferry found it in large colonies in 

 1908, which record was published in 

 The Auk the year following Mr. Fer- 

 ry's death in a paper prepared by him 

 in his lifetime and proof read by the 

 editor. 



Queer Nesting Places. 



In the spring of 1904 a blue bird 

 built its nest in an old tea-pot out in 

 the smoke house. Smith Co., Texas. 



In the summer of 1913 a mourning 

 dove built its nest on the seat of a 

 riding plow that stood in the barn lot. 

 I should not say "built" for it built 

 no nest, but layed its two white eggs 

 on a sack that covered the seat. Cleve- 

 land Co., Oklahoma. 



A friend of mine, Houston Boaz, has 

 a fruit jar to which a wren comes 

 every year to build its nest. The jar 

 is laying on its side on a shelf above 

 the door of the work shop on the in- 

 side. She goes through a crack in 

 the wall when the door is closed. 

 Wyandotte Co., Kansas. 



This summer (1915) I built a four- 

 roomer martin house and set it upon a 

 pole. Two pairs of purple martens oc- 

 cupied the suite of rooms on the west, 

 while two pairs of English sparrows 

 took up their abode in the two remain- 

 ing ones. They each raised their 

 young and had no disputes as far as I 

 could tell. 



Ralph Donahue. 

 Bonner Springs, Kansas. 



Early Arrival of the Slate-colored 

 J unco. 



Last year (1914) I first noted the 

 arrival of the slate-colored junco on 

 November 12, while this year I saw 

 them on the twentieth day of October, 

 or three weeks and three days earlier. 



Whether this fact will mean an ear- 

 lier winter or not, I am as yet not 

 able to say. 



Ralph Donahue. 

 Bonner Springs, Kansas. 



A Mixed Tale. 

 Oolcgical-Zoologicaly-Illogical. 

 By Isaac E. Hess. 

 . . . There is naught that appeals 

 to the average male, like an eloquent 

 talker recounting a tale; It don't mat- 

 ter much what the tale is about; 

 whether soldier or sailor — ball player 

 or scout; Just so there's a point with 

 a humorous twist, why one can have 

 fun with an O-ologist. 



Now we Bird Men are scattered so 

 widely apart, 'tis not often that we 

 may converse heart to heart; We 

 must needs be contented with type- 

 written words when we are desirous 

 of talking 'bout birds. 



