THE OOLOGIST. 



109 



midst of a small reedy swamp on the 

 edge of tlie Illinois River bottom. 



Cow Birds. 



I wonder if all parts of the country 

 are as badly infested with Cow birds 

 as Central Wisconsin? They are cer- 

 tainly a pest here, and I think a boun- 

 ty on them would not be a bad idea. . 



From observations I have made this 

 season, although somewhat limited, I 

 feel sa^'p in saying that fully one- 

 fourth, if not more of the eggs of our 

 smaller song birds, are destroyed by 

 this bird. Have seen several nests 

 where the bird would be sitting on 

 nothing but eggs of the Cow-bird. 

 C. W. PELTON. 



Marshfield, Wis. 



During a recent collecting trip in 

 Canada we found at least fifty per 

 cent, of the smaller birds nests which 

 we examined, contained Cow-birds' 

 eggs, ranging in number from one to 

 four, and sometimes, found these nests 

 containing nothing but Cow-birds' 

 eggs. — Ed. 



The American Bittern. 



Dr. W .A. Hart of Lapeer, Michigan, 

 desires information as to whether the 

 American Bittern lays a second set of 

 eggs in case its nesting it disturbed 

 or its first set taken. Concerning this, 

 we have no personal knowledge. Can 

 any of our readers enlighten the Doc- 

 tor on this subject? 



Lucky. 



A. M. Ingersoll of San Diego, Cali- 

 fornia, reports taking a set of the ex- 

 ceedingly rare California Black Rail. 

 This is indeed a rare find and Mr. In- 

 gersoll is to be congratulated on his 

 good luck. 



What do j^ou think of the size of 

 the Oologist this month? 



If you don't think we are growing, 

 look at our exchange column this 

 month. 



You can help the good work along, 

 each one of you, by sending us just 

 one — or more — new subscriber. 



Fraud. 



It will be a pleasure to us to expose 

 any improper, unscientific or fraudu- 

 lent practices, on the part of any one, 

 relating to the sale or exchange of 

 specimens; of failure of anyone to 

 square accounts in such matters. 

 These things should be conducted 

 along honorable lines 



R. M. BARNES 



What do you think of the character 

 of the cuts we have been serving up 

 so far? 



There has not been a month since 

 we took over The Oologist that we 

 have not refused some undesirable ad- 

 vertising. 



Remember that it is our purpose to 

 publish in the future, if the support 

 of this publication justifies it, a series 

 of color plates different from any- 

 thing ever before published at any 

 time. Can you guess what they are? 



We will not advertise for those who 

 are not on the square — several have 

 tried us and found this out. 



The collecting season is now about 

 over for 1909. Get busy and arrange 

 your duplicates for exchange — Adver- 

 tise your wants as well as your sur- 

 plus in The Oologist. More than like- 

 ly some one of the thousand readers 

 of The Oologist wants just what you 

 have, or can supply you with just what 

 you are short of. 



The editor of the Oologist has been 

 an active collector for over twenty 

 years. During this time he has ex- 

 changed specimens with many other 

 oologists throughout this country and 

 it is a pleasure to testify to the fact 

 that they are as a class and with but 

 rare exceptions straight forward, hon- 

 orable persons. Fraud has seldom 

 come under our notice, and a failure 

 to balance accounts but twice in all 

 that time. Those who have practiced 

 fraud or failed to square up have been 

 short lived indeed. The reputable col- 

 lectors were not long in finding them 

 out nor slow in giving them a wide 

 berth. 



