THE # OOLOGIST. 



£ 



VOL. VIII. 



ALBION, N. Y, MARCH, 1891. 



No. 3 



A New Year's Soliloquy. 



'Tis New Year's day, and around 

 many of our homes the snow, covers 

 hill and dale, and perhaps is falling 

 fast, while around others, the green 

 valley and hills lie before us, and there 

 we find the many birds who have left 

 their colder clime for the milder. 



How many of us to night sit by the 

 open fire place, and with slippered feet 

 against the fender, we are looking over 

 and studying the many notes found in 

 our note book of years past, and then 

 we pause a moment in those fond recol- 

 lections, and our thoughts wander into 

 the future and we wonder what the 

 coming year of '91 has in store for us. 



For the earnest and careful student, 

 of ornithology, this year will bring its 

 many surprises as has the past. 



For what can be more pleasant, than 

 when out on some pleasant morning's 

 stroll you stumble (I say stumble for 

 this is the way we often come across 

 our most favorite finds) upon some 

 pretty warbler's nest hitherto unknown 

 to you. 



This is a surprise indeed, and our 

 hearts seem fairly to leap up in our 

 throats as the saying goes, as we sit 

 down, and write a few hasty notes, 

 thinking to recall the rest when we get 

 home. 



But alas we were to hasty, for when 

 we get home, after collecting a dozen 

 sets perhaps, we find we cannot recall 

 definitely which it was that had a cer- 

 tain peculiarity, and in this way loose 

 many valuable points and facts. 



Therefore I say, do not be so hasty 

 when you go into the field, take plenty 

 of time have a roomy note book and 

 take down all facts as they appeared 

 and if you collect but one set on your 

 trip it will be of more value than the 

 dozen otherwise collected. 



If you find a nest with which you are 

 not acquainted, do not take it but wait 

 until you can procure the bird, for by 

 so doing you have a positive identifica- 

 tion, which can in no other way be se- 

 cured, and when once gotten can never 

 be disputed. 



Not only will you work be a pleasure 

 and benefit to you, but to others who 

 perchance may not have had the benefit 

 or advantages which nature has given 

 you. 



And again I say collect fewer sets 

 and be more thorough, in the coming — 

 no—in the present year of 1891. 



After wandering so aimlessly over 

 my subject we will again return, to 

 where you or I perhaps together with a 

 friend are seated by the open fire place, 

 and comparing our notes books of the 

 old year. 



Oh, yes, and here as we turn to page 

 20, we note: 



701, Cinclus mexicanus. 



Water Ouzel. 



First nest found June 2, containing 4 

 eggs, incubation slight; color pure 

 white; size .97 x .62. Nest placed on 

 shelf of perpendicular rock about 15 ft. 

 above water, and nest made of moss, 

 round with an entrance on side. A 

 hard climb and fall. 



Thus you pause a moment and after 

 addressing your friends perhaps some- 

 what like this, you say: 



Yes, I remember well, what a time I 

 had securing this set and nest. As the 

 rocks were nearly perpendicular and 

 directly above water, I secured a long 

 stout pole and placing it slantingly 1 

 began my ascent, but oh! when near 

 the top, by some queer freak the pole 

 suddenly turns and I find myself in 

 the bottom of the creek. Picking my. 

 self up, although somewhat wet, I 

 again try the experiment and this time 



