214 



THE OOLOGIST. 



Protect Our Birds. 



It appears to uie that the Oologist of 

 today seems to think it his especial 

 duty to destroy all the birds and eggs 

 which come within his reach. As this 

 is practiced by collectors who know 

 much more of Ornithology than myself. 

 I may be wrong. But it seems to me 

 the true lover of nature and the works 

 of Providence could not, with a clear 

 conscience, destroy so many of our 

 beautiful feathered creatures. 



By very little reading I can find 

 many instances where collectors collect 

 from five to twenty-five sets of the 

 same species, the eggs having no ma- 

 terial difference in number, size and 

 markings. Even if they should differ 

 somewhat, the peculiarities could be 

 put down in a note book, as every good 

 Oologist keeps such a book. 



One person has taken, this season, 

 twenty-two nests and sets of the hum- 

 ming-bird. I hope, but hardly think, 

 they are all different species. 



Another writer found a good breed- 

 ing place of one of the Ibises, 

 and ends his article by saying he took 

 about two hundred of their eggs, or 

 about sixty sets. I cannot understand 

 why one or two sets would not have 

 sufficed. 



If this wholesale destruction of our 

 birds continues, what will become of 

 them? Ornithologists agree that 

 many species are becoming very scarce. 

 Now., we do not want to exterminate 

 them, with the exception only of the 

 English Sparrow or as Davie fitly calls 

 them, "the rats of the air." 



Otto Grady. 

 Ludlow, Ky. 



regions they formerly frequented after 

 a lapse of many years. 



The latest I have to chronicle is the 

 return of the Bald Eagle. Last fall 

 Mr. f John W. ' Stacy, reported meet- 

 ing two Bald Eagles. One was killed 

 near -the eastern border of Pontiac 

 township, • Oakland count}', and the 

 other was met with alive along a branch 

 of StoneycCreek. in western Macomb 

 county, near the boundary of Oakland 

 county. They have also been reported 

 from Wayne and other counties along 

 the eastern coast of this state. 



Wilfred A. Brotherton, 

 Rochester, Mich. 



Reappearance of Bald Eagles in South-East 

 Michigan. 



From time to time I have noted the 

 reappearance of various birds in this 

 portion of the country, their return to 



Vireonidae in Iowa- 



This is a family of birds that are 

 much oftener heard than seen. Next 

 after the Warblers, the Vireos are the 

 most delightful birds of our forest, they 

 address the ear and not the eye. Clad 

 in the simple tints that harmonize with 

 the verdure these gentle songsters 

 warble their lays unseen, while the fo- 

 liage itself seems stirred to music. In 

 the state of Iowa there are six members 

 of this family. 



Red-eyed Vireo, Vireo olivaceus. Ar- 

 rives from the south about the last of 

 April and is common throughout the 

 state, r It has a loud, energetic song, 

 which is never out of tune, from the 

 time it arrives, until it departs early in 

 October, from early morning, through 

 the burning heat of noon and on into 

 the night, whether it is raining or no, 

 go to -any woodland and you will be 

 sure to hear it. 



Langille says, "some writer has made 

 it especially articulate in the following 

 lines:" 



Pretty green worm, where^are you? 

 Dusky-winged moth, how fare you, 



When wind and rain are in the trees? 

 Cheery o, clieerebly, chee, 



Shadows and sunshine are one to me. 



