40 



THE OOLOGIST. 



ing as they did so their silvery under 

 parts. Then began a long detour to 

 strike the lake near where they wei-e. 

 At last 1 saw I had come out in the 

 right place for there they were totally 

 unaware of the presence of a gun. 



I was about to shoot when a whirr of 

 wings over my head made me look up 

 and I heard the same hoarse call I had 

 heard in the "slashing," and there, with 

 his golden coronet, was my woodpecker. 

 No chances this time, so I fired The 

 ducks got up with a splash and frantic 

 beating of wings. The woodpecker 

 hung for a second and dropped. 



Thus ended one of the most enjoya- 

 ble bitter-sweet days I have known for 

 a long time. 1 walked on air all the 

 way home admiring my two prizes. 

 After this these birds became quite com- 

 mon but these wei'e the first ones I took 

 as I had never stayed so late in this 

 country on my vacation trip before. 

 Tais accounts for my never having seen 

 birds which, in the late fall and winter, 

 are quite common there. 



In closing, let me say that I hope that 

 in all their like disappointments, my 

 readers will have a like ending to them 

 that turns them into a rather pleasant 

 experience; instead of a disagreeable re- 

 membrance of "what might have been." 



P. A. Ta VERNIER, 



Guelph, Ont. 



JANUARY CONTEST. 



Ninety- four Judges. 



1. A Rough Time Collecting at Shoal 

 Lake, Manitoba, 453. 



2. Northwest Notes for 1894, 314. 



3. Water Birds of Heron Lake, 306. 



4. Experience with the Young of 

 Ruffed Grouse and Bob-white. 164. 



5. Spring Breeders of Western New 

 York, 84. 



The following ten Judges named the 

 winning articles in their exact order and 

 among these ten the Judges prize was 

 equally divided; — 



Berton A. Garrett, Balston Springs, 

 N. Y. 



L. G. Woodruff, New York City. 

 W. A. Johnson. Galesburg. Ills. 

 Geo Miller York, Pa. 

 A. L. Blanchard, No. Yarmouth, Me. 

 Millard Van Wagner, Gretna, N. Y. 

 C. C. Smith, Decorah, Iowa. 

 L. B. Gilmore, Blooming Valley, Pa. 

 L. R. Kirk, Jr., Wayue, Pa. 

 Hervey M. Hoskins, Newberg, Ore- 

 gon. 

 All prizes were mailed on Feb. 9th. 



We have been too busy during the past 

 year to take the time to inform the 

 readers of the Oologist what the prizes 

 were which we were awarding each 

 month forMss. and lo the Judges. For 

 the best Mss. each month as determin- 

 ed by our judges we give a credit card 

 which entitles the holder to his selec- 

 tion of $10 worth of specimens or $7.50 

 worth of instruments, supplies or pub- 

 lications or 95 CASH. For the 2d prize 

 $5 worth of specimens; $3.75 in instru- 

 ments, supplies or publications; or $2.50 

 CASH. 3d $3 in specimens, or $2.25 in 

 instruments, supplies or publications, 

 or $1.50 cash. 4th, $2 in specimens or 

 $1.50 in instruments, supplies or publi- 

 cations or $1 cash. 5th, $1 in. speci- 

 mens or 75 cents in instruments, sup- 

 plies or publications or 50 cents cash. 

 During 1895 the Judges prize will be 

 awarded as follows, viz: Each month 

 it will consist of $6 in specimens or 

 $4.50 in instruments, supplies or publi- 

 cations or $3 cash. This prize will be 

 awarded to the Judge who names the 

 winning articles and in there exact or- 

 der. In case more than one Judge 

 names theni correctly this prize will be 

 equally divided among the number. 

 This month ten, name the winners ex- 

 actly hence, each of these ten are en- 

 titled to 60 cents worth of specimens or 

 45 cents worth of instruments, supplies 

 or publication or 30 cents cash. On 

 this plan during the past year at three 

 different times this prize would have 

 remained unawarded. Four times it 

 would have been secured by a single 

 Judge, once it would have been divided 

 among two, twice among three and 

 once among eight. 



