150 



THE OOLCGIST. 



a school of fish would turn back soaring 

 along about three i'eet above the sur- 

 face, then suddenly throwiug their 

 wings back, would pitch head foremost 

 into the water, as does the Belted Jving- 

 fisher, becoming entirely submerged. 

 If the fish was a rather large one it 

 would be brought to the surface and 

 stored in the capacious pouch while 

 the bird rested on the water as would 

 a duck or goose. 



I was informed that there was no 

 rookery of these birds at Lake Worth, 

 those found there must have come 

 either from the -Indian River colony, 

 a great distance north, or from colonies 

 which I understand inhabit various of 

 the Florida Keys. In either case long 

 distances must have been traversed. 

 L. Whitney Watkins, 



Manchester, Mich. 



Remarkable Tenacity of Life. 



The following item of oology may or 

 'may not be useful or interesting to 

 somebody, but to me it seems worthy of 

 mention. 



A pair of domestic Pigeon's eggs, 

 which it was supposed had been aban- 

 doned, and which were deemed to be 

 bad, were taken from the nest and one 

 of the eggs was thrown upon the ground 

 with considerable force. The shell 

 burst open, and there bleeding and 

 struggling was the embryonic inhabi- 

 tant with head in the shell, and the end 

 part entirely exposed. The first im- 

 pulse was to destroy the young pigeon, 

 but upon second thought the broken 

 shell was tenderly picked up, and re- 

 placed together with the good egg; in 

 the nest. This was on the 4th of March 

 1894. Today, March 17th that nest con- 

 tains two bouncing, and apparently en- 

 tirely sound. young pigeons. . This egg 

 was not simply dropped — it was thrown 

 with force upon the ground. 



Henry Knaus, 

 Chicago, Illinois. 



Notes From the Midwinter Fair. 



As the Avestern readers of the Oolo- 

 gist enjoye.l the interesting descrip- 

 tions of the World's Fair which appear- 

 ed in its columns, I thought perhaps a 

 few words concerning our Midwinter 

 Exposition might interest our eastern 

 friends and I have decided to tell them 

 in a general way about it. 



First,let me say we have a great Fair; 

 not as large as Chicago's, but one in 

 which a person can easily spend a week 

 or longer according to his method of 

 sight-seeing. It is a Fair which can be 

 comprehended and therefore apprecia- 

 ted. In less thau six months from the 

 time the idea of holding a Fair was de- 

 cided upon, a hundred beautiful build- 

 ings had been erected and the Fair 

 opened to the throng of eager visitors. 



Probably California is the only state 

 in which a "Midwinter" Fair could be 

 successfully held, because of its equable 

 climate. During this month, February, 

 all about the grounds flowers are bloom- 

 ing and tropical palms are waving in 

 the balmy breeze. The Fair has been 

 arranged with an eye to the picturesque, 

 and this makes a walk through the 

 grounds a continual pleasure. The 

 Grand Court is adorned with a lofty 

 electric tower and an electric fouutain 

 of beautiful design and liuish. About 

 the Grand Court are the main build- 

 ings; the Art Palace, Administration, 

 Horticultural, Manufactures and Liber- 

 al Arts, and Machinery. 



All the main buildings and conces- 

 sions are finished iu attractive colors 

 that catch the eye. Man_y of the con- 

 cessions that appeared at Chicago have 

 been reproduced here. We have no 

 Midway Plaisauce, but the shows which 

 constituted that interesting part of the 

 Fair, are scattered throughout the 

 grounds. A Firth Wheel, correspond- 

 ing to the Ferris Wheel, is one of the 

 most, stiiking objects on the grounds. 

 But we have one concession that is 



