THE OOLOGIST. 



55 



The First. 



To Robert E. Johnson, of Ivoryton, 

 Connecticut, falls the honor of being 

 the first renewal subscription to reach 

 the new management. 



Kind Words. 



The following from H. E. Bishop, 

 secertary of the Game and Fish Pro- 

 tective Association of Sayre, Pa., has 

 the true ring to it. It is the first let- 

 ter received hy the new editor rela- 

 tive to our venture into the realms of 

 journalism: 



"I note from THE OOLOGIST for 

 March, which has just come to hand, 

 that you have purchased 'THE OOLO- 

 GIST.' Let me be among the first to 

 wish you success with your new un- 

 dertaking, and I assure you of my 

 support in every way possible. I have 

 been a subscriber to the paper for 

 nine years and am therefore interest- 

 ed in its future. I am sure new life 

 will help the paper out of the rut it 

 has sometimes been in. One very bad 

 feature has always been, we never 

 knew when to expect it. Can't we 

 hope to have a date of publication 

 now and always get the paper with- 

 in a reasonable time after that date. 

 * * * * * * It would seem to me a big 

 improvement to have the pages of live 

 matter only numbered consecutively, 

 so that the ads. could be torn out 

 when bound." 



We will say that hereafter the pub- 

 lication day of THE OOLOGIST will 

 be on the fifteenth day of each month, 

 except when that day falls on Sunday; 

 then it will be issued the Monday fol- 

 lowing. Manuscript and all advei'tis- 

 ing copy must be here ten days be- 

 fore the publication day, or it will go 

 on to the next issue. As to paging 

 only the reading matter, the idea is 

 a good one and will be carefully look- 

 ed into. 



We should be glad to have further 

 suggestions from our subscribers. 



The Blue Martins. 



The splendid birds arrived at the 

 new home of THE OOLOGIST at La- 

 con, Illinois, April 5, 1909. They have 

 arrived at their boxes on my home 

 place, beginning during the past years, 

 on the following dates: 



1895 April 2d 



1896 April 6th 



1897 March 29th 



1898 April 1st 



t899 April 9th 



1900 April 3d 



1901 April 12th 



1902 April 16th 



1903 April 3d 



1904 March 23d 



1905 April 3d 



1906 April 6th 



1907 April 16th 



1908 April 5th 



There are few birds that will pay 



rent in larger return of song and act- 

 ual service than the Martin. A box of 

 Martins will decrease the insect pests, 

 as house flies, mosquitoes and the 

 like around a house amazingly. While 

 the sprightly, bubbling song and 

 quaint mannerisms of the birds are a 

 source of almost continued pleasure 

 during the season. 



Winter Song Sparrows. 



A pair of Merrill Song Sparrows 

 are spending the winter ai'ound my 

 home feeding on crumbs and chicken 

 feed. 



On the afternoon of January 3, 1909, 

 the sun caire out bright and warmed 

 the west side of the building where 

 currant bushes are standing and on 

 these bushes was perched the male 

 bird singing away as though he was 

 singing to his mate in June. Several 

 times since I have noticed the same 

 bird singing on a bush or fence when 

 snow covered the ground two and 

 three inches. 



The morning of February 8th, a 

 light snow storm was prevailing and, 

 to my surprise, I heard a familiar 



