THE OOLOGIST. 



ials at hand, such as hair, feathers, 

 string, cotton, waste, etc. 



The domiciles are attached to upright 

 swaying reeds, also being placed in a 

 kind of bush that grows along the 

 borders of salt creeks in meadows here- 

 abouts. 



The nests are usually placed about 

 from 2$ to 4 feet from the ground. I 

 saw one placed not more than one foot 

 from the ground in short grass. 



The eggs are from six to ten in num- 

 ber and are quite variable in color some 

 pale and others deep chocolate brown, 

 sometimes nearly uniform, again evenly 

 spotted with dark brown, sometimes 

 forming a confluent ring about the 

 larger end. 



The eggs of G. Stelloris are pure 

 white, the nest corresponding to C. 

 palustrus, except being neater, and 

 lined with vegetable down, mostly that 

 ■of the cat-tail. 



The Short-billed Marsh Wren is quite 

 rare in this locality. 



Found a nest of this species June 16, 



Now if all our bird students who 

 agree that the English Sparrow is too 

 numerous would shoot, during the win- 

 ter, as many as possible, would not the 

 difference in numbers be a welcome 

 discovery for our returning birds in the 

 spring? 



If this were practiced yearly, it could 

 not fail to place a great check on the 

 increase of the English Sparrow. If 

 we each of us complain of the evil 

 wrought by the English Sparrow, and 

 yet each one, anxious that some one 

 else should do something, fails to make 

 a step ourself, how can we expect that 

 the trouble will be abated? 



I think if we were to get up a compe- 

 tition to see who this winter should 

 kill the most Sparrows (English 

 of course), it might be a means of in- 

 creasing the number which would be 

 destroyed. 



I should like to hear the opinions of 

 others on this subject. 



In the Jan. 1889 Oologist, Mr. Clute 

 gave an interesting article on the 



1889, situated in the midst of reeds, and "Birds of Broome County," with the 



was attached to the same. 



J. LUHRMAN, 



Jersey City, N.J. 



Now,— The 



Time to Wage War 

 English Sparrows. 



on the 



It is an already wed recognized fact, 

 that the English 'Sparrow is one of the 

 evils which are "driving the number of 

 our native birds, and driving them 

 "far from the haunts of men." inas- 

 much as the English Sparrow makes 

 the haunts of man his special breeding 

 place. 



Much has been said about abating 

 this evil, but as yet little or nothing 

 seems to have been done . Has the 

 time not yet come, to act? Winter is 

 at hand, when we in the north will 

 have but few birds with us. At this 

 time the English Sparrow presents a 

 very; conspicuous figure making it a 

 favorable opportunity tojjdestroy him. 



suggestion that the example be followed 

 by one from each of the other counties 

 of this and other states. This was done 

 to a certain extent by one or two and 

 the matter dropped. 



Now the question is why was this 

 dropped? As far J as they went, the 

 articles were very interesting, even to 

 those not in the same locality with the 

 writer. 



If continued, as suggested by Mr. 

 Clute, I should think his would form a 

 very interesting ornithology, showing, 

 as it would, how birds common in one 

 part of a state were yet unknown in a 

 different locality of the same state. 

 B. S. Bowdish, 

 Phelps, N. Y. 



Nesting of the Downy Woodpecker {Dryo- 



bates pubescens) in Kalamazoo County, 



Mich. 



Although this bird is common in 



