14 



THE OOLOGIST. 



reached the lake. The Coots and 

 "Grebes were to be seen in countless 

 numbers. We went along the east 

 shore and found Wood Ducks and Tree 

 Swallows nesting [in the elms and wil- 

 low stubs. In some instances the swal- 

 lows had to be taken from the nest by 

 hand. We secured several nice sets. 

 On the west side of the lake we found 

 several nests of the Virginia and Sora 

 Rails, most of them contained eggs. 

 'On our way home several Least Bittern 

 were seen in the tall wild rice. But we 

 failed to locate their nests. But we 

 were well satisfied with our trip. 



W. Harrison, 

 Houston Co., Minn. 



Summer Tanager. 



Six or seven years ago the Summer 

 Red Bird or Summer Tanager was rare- 

 ly seen in this vicinity, and, if it nested 

 '•at all, bred in the thick scrub oaks far 

 from any human habitation. 



Five years ago I shot a fine male in 

 full plumage, that was the first Summer 

 Tanager taken here. It was not until a 

 year or two ago, however, that they be- 

 come anyways common, and now it can 

 be seen almost any. summer day. Its 

 pecular metalic note easily leads to its 

 identification and also to the discovery 

 of its nest. I have collected many 

 nests that I never would have discover- 

 ed had not the male bird uttered its cry ! 

 of alarm at my proximity. 



The male and female bird differ much 

 in plumage, the former being a dull 

 vermilion red and the latter olive 



The nest of the Summer Redbird here 

 is one of the prettiest and neatest we 

 have, it is composed outwardly of tine 

 weed stems and internally of line grass- 

 es, these grasses are green when pro- 

 cured by the bird, and as they retain 

 their color for weeks, give the nest a 

 very pretty appearance. 



The nests are invariaballv built on a' 



horozontal branch or limb usually of 

 oak, here. 



Davie states in his last edition of the 

 "Nests and Eggs of North American 

 Birds" that the nest of this species are 

 frail and the bottom unusually thin, in 

 fact in some cases the "eggs could 

 be seen from the ground," this, 

 while it may apply to the nests of the 

 Summer Redbird in some localities, will 

 not apply to the nest of Firango rubra 

 in Aiken county, which are compactly 

 and handsomely built. 



The average number of eggs of this 

 species is three, sometimes four. In col- 

 or they are a bright emerald green 

 when first taken but this bright clear 

 green fades in a month or two after the 

 egg is blown, it is spotted dotted and 

 blotched with A'arious shades of lilac, 

 brownish purple and dark brown. 

 Davie also states the eggs are not dis- 

 tinguishable from those of P. erythom- 

 elas. Now all the eggs of that species 

 that have come under my observation 

 can be easily distinguished from the 

 former, differing from it both in shape 

 and markings. The eggs of the Sum- 

 merTananger, however, much resemble 

 the eggs of M. polyglottos — mocking 

 bird — when first taken. A series of 14 

 eggs in my cabinet average .88 by .67. 

 S. A. Taft. 

 Aiken, S. C. 



"The Way of the Transgressor is Hard." 



To the truth of the above saying one. 

 Wm. Purdy with his numerous aliases, 

 whom we published in December Oolo- 

 gist, can ere long most painfully testify, 

 in one of his victims he made a poor 

 choice in selecting the Publisher of a 

 leadins; daily paper in one of the lar- 

 gest cities of the U. S. This Publisher 

 with ample means, proof and counsel 

 intendsif possible to place Purdy where 

 honest collectors are— unknown. 



This month we sorrowfully add to 

 our 'roll of dishonor the names of Let- 

 son Balliet alias Dean Schooler, of_ Des 

 Moines, Iowa, and that of J. W . P. 

 Smithwick, of Sans Souci, N. C. The. 

 necessity of publishing these names we 



