THE OOLOGIST. 



59 



Grouse booms on a fallen trunk in ris- 

 ing cadence. It seems that if a person 

 could understand all this, could enter 

 into the spirit of the place, he would 

 have gained Paradise. 



Much as [ would like to linger yet 

 hosts of Warbler voices in the woods 

 beyond call me onward and I am soon 

 in the thick of battle. Magnolia War- 

 blers have begun to sing, something 

 that I believed they never did in this 

 latitude; in the small evergreens the 

 Canadian and Nashville Warblers are 

 in full song, so my note book and fish 

 creel are rapidly filling. Black-throat 

 Blue Warblers have begun their quaint 

 "die die die die z-u-we e e e e" in the 

 maple woods. Far away the whistles 

 blow for noon so I return to my start- 

 ing point, shooting the first Crested 

 Flycatcher of the season on the way. 

 After my return home I find my brother 

 has. shot a female Cape May Warbler, 

 perhaps the mate of mine, near the 

 barn . 



Stewart E White, 

 Gi*and Rapids (Kent Co.,) Mich. 



"The English Sparrow Must Go." 



In the last number of The Oologist, 

 Mr. B. S. Bowdish, of Phelps, N. Y., 

 very ably expressed himself in an arti- 

 cle headed, "Now, — the time to wage 

 war on the English Sparrow." Mr. 

 Bowdish strikes the nail squarely on 

 the head when he says "now," is the 

 time. "Behold now is the accepted 

 day," might be the motto of every orni- 

 thologist and collector in our country 

 would they but arouse themselves to 

 to action. "Now" is the time, not only 

 because each and every spring brings a 

 decided increase in the myraicl hosts of 

 these, the .destroyers of "avine happi- 

 ness," but this season of the year is 

 peculiarly suitable for a war upon this 

 troublesome pest. As Mr. B. says dur- 

 .ing the winter season this one species 

 is left almost entirely alone, and pres- 



ents itself an isolated object to our 

 raids — for raids they should be. 



Now any sort of weapon that will kill 

 at short range can be used in this exter- 

 mination, but about the handiest and 

 cheapest we know .of is a 22 calibre 

 rifle using B B caps. This is not only 

 effective but almost noiseless, scarcely 

 any sound being made in the discharge, 

 consequently there can be no objection 

 from any one in regard to the noise, 

 and the sparrows can be reached in 

 their haunts even in the midst of the 

 city. In a certain city in Indiana 

 where these birds were very numerous 

 I have used these caps with telling 

 effect right around the business part of 

 town and no objections to my shooting 

 were raised. 



Only two years ago, on coming into 

 this town for the first time, I remarked 

 about the small number of English 

 sparrows there were here. To-day 

 their number has increased 150 per cent 

 from what it was at that time. This is 

 only one of many instances of their 

 rapid growth, and this growth, if not 

 soon checked, will end disastrously to 

 the songsters in our locality. 



Let us one and all prepare for action 

 and at once exert all our forces to rid 

 our communities of these intruders and 

 thus befriend the bird creation by des- 

 troying their chief enemy. 



Guv M. Wells. 

 Gibbson, Neb. 



Fond Mothers- 



Whether walking in the field or in 

 the forest, in the meadow or by the 

 brook side, one cannot help but notice 

 the peculiarites of instinct manifest in 

 animal life. 



This is in all prpbabilites more notic- 

 able in birds because^they are more 

 domestic and more is seen of them. At 

 any rate the instinct which leads birds 

 to the protection of their eggs and 

 young is truly sublime. 



