THE OOLOGIST. 



153 



Year 



No. of son 





bird nests 



1905 



20 



1906 



50 



1907 



73 



1908 



120 



No. Spar- 

 row nests 

 31 

 26 

 28 

 18 

 1909 to date 121 6 



Many peoiJle seem to believe that 

 tlie Starlings will also drive out the 

 useful .birds in time. I hardly think 

 so, for the reason that they do not 

 show signs of aggressiveness unless 

 the trouble is started by the other 

 bird. This was true in the case of 

 the sparrows and I believe that the 

 two would have lived together peace- 

 fully had not the smaller birds been 

 so irritable. One man told me that 

 he thought the increase of destructive 

 larvae on our shade trees was due to 

 the decrease of the sparrows. After 

 carefully looking into this question, it 

 was found that the larvae which this 

 person meant, were of an extremely 

 hairy species which I hardly think the 

 sparrows would eat anyway. 



In conclusion it seems that there are 

 no stains as yet on the Starlings' 

 character that is, of course in this lo- 

 cality. I wish that some of the read- 

 ers of the OOLOGIST would enligh- 

 ten us on this subject, as they may be 

 detrimental to bird life in other locali- 

 ties. P. G. HOWES, 



Stamford, Conn. 



pairs nesting. Did not dig out any, 

 but they apepared to have large 

 young. 



R. B. SIMPSON, 



Warren, Pa. 



FROM ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA. 



July 4th, 5th and 6th I spent with 

 my parents at Erie, Pennsylvania, 

 and although I only spent a little time 

 afield, I saw several things of inter- 

 est in the bird line. 



On the "Peninsula" along the out- 

 side beach I found a flock of thirty 

 Bon apart Gulls and two large dark 

 Ducks. Also a lot of spotted Sand- 

 pipers and a few flocks of Kildeer. I 

 saw also a pair of Piping Plover, which 

 may have been breeding in the vicinity 

 as this bird formerly bred there. 



Just west of the city I found sev- 

 eral Chats in a brushy ravine. This 

 was of interest to me, as the Chat is 

 unknown at Warren, sixty miles south 

 of Erie, but in a higher and mountain- 

 ous region. The Chat must reach the 

 lake shore in Ohio and then work east 

 along the lake. 



Also visited a colony of Bank Swal- 

 lows and found fully two hundred 



A FINE LOT. 



"It may be interesting to your read- 

 ers to know that I have succeeded in 

 personally collecting a set each of 

 Clarke's Nutcracker, N 3; American 

 Crossbill (Northwest form) N-4; Ruby- 

 crowned Kinglet n-9; and examined 

 nest of four young of Western Even- 

 ing Grosbeak, during the collecting 

 season. 



I shall write in regard to some of 

 these for THE ' OOLOGIST, if time 

 permits." 



J. W. PRESTON, 

 Spokane, Wash. 



The foregoing is certainly a wonder- 

 ful record for one season, and we trust 

 our friend Preston will write us full 

 accounts of each of the above rare 

 nests. Certainly our readers as well 

 as ourself will appreciate it. — Ed. 



ABNORMAL SETS. 



The discussion of abnormal sets and 

 eggs in the last two numbers of THE 

 OOLOGIST reminds me of my own ex- 

 perience along that line in the season 

 just past. 



I took a set of three Pied-billed 

 Crebe eggs measuring' respectively, 

 1.16 X .87; 1.07 x .84, 1.02 x .76. The 

 average of normal eggs is 1.70 x 1.18. 



An egg of the Tri-colored Red-wing 

 .42 X .30, and one of the Cliff Swal- 

 low, .40 X .25 were also noted. 



Observed the following unusually 

 large sets: 



Mourning Dove, 1-4 ; Burrowing Owl, 

 1-10; Gairdner's Woodpecker, 1-7; 

 Cliff Swallow, 1-7. 



D. I. SHEPARDSON, 

 Los Angeles, Cal. 



NOTICE. 



Some time since we arranged a 

 small exchange of eggs with Alfred 

 C. Snyder of Stony Plains; Calif. His 

 eggs came all right and were entirely 

 satisfactory. I sent mine any they 

 are now returned by the Postal au- 

 thorities with a notice of no such per- 

 son there. Can any of our readers 

 tell us where Mr. Snyder is. We are 

 holding the returned box of eggs for 

 him. R. M. BARNES. 



