■93 



THE OOLOGIST. 



The Purple Gallinule does much to 

 harm the rice crops, as they are not sat- 

 isfied with picking up grains from the 

 ground, but bend the stalks so that 

 what rice is not eaten is wasted. 



H. L. Ballowe, 

 New Orleans, La. 



Gulls in the Reservoirs of New York 

 City. 



The American Herring and Black- 

 backed Gulls arrive here about the mid- 

 dle of October and leave early in March. 



They are very plentiful on the Hudson 

 river and flocks of several hundred 

 may be frequently seen, but it is of 

 their appearance in the reservoirs of 

 -which I am going to speak. 



Central Park, as its name indicates, 

 In the very center of the city. It con- 

 tains several lakes, on which people are 

 allowed to skate in winter, and row in 

 summer, and three reservoirs, which 

 supply the city with water. 



The largest of these reservoirs is over 

 a mile and three-quarters in circumfer- 

 ence, is is of an irregular shape and is 

 well stocked with fish. 



Here the Gulls congregate in large 

 numbers, so that it is not an uncommon 

 sight to see several hundred swimming 

 in and flying above the centre of this 

 sheet of water. 



They have become a great nuisance, 

 not only on account of their fouling the 

 water, but their feathers, which they 

 leave behind in large numbers, fill the 

 screens of the gate-houses so that the 

 water cannot flow through, and it grad- 

 ually rises until it threatens to carry the 

 screens away. 



Almost exactly at 2 p. m. the Gulls 

 rise in a body and circling up. fly over 

 to the Hudson River. 



Many schemes have been tried to rid 

 the reservoirs of these pests, but all, so 

 far, have failed. 



Robert C. Woodhouse, 

 New York City. 



Persevering' Nesting- of Contopus vir- 

 ens. 



Some years ago I remember of read- 

 in a number of The Oologist, an ac- 

 count of the habit of the Wood Pewce, 

 of removing its nesting material, when 

 dissatisfied with a position, to a more 

 suitable spot. 



In 1895 I had the opportunity to per- 

 sonally verify these observations. 



Unfortunately, being very busy, I 

 neglected to record most of the dates, 

 so can only give them approximately. 



On June 14 I went into my orchard 

 to hunt up the home of the G. virens 

 family, which I knew must then be in 

 building. I located it nearly finished. 



In a few days I found that from some 

 cause, the birds were removing the ma- 

 terial, and soon located a new nest in 

 another portion of the orchard. In a 

 few days this contained two eggs. A 

 load of hay passing under this nest 

 threw the eggs out. 



Soon the material of this nest began 

 to disappear, and some weeks later I 

 located a third nest, some 75 rods from 

 the last, entirely out of the orchard, in 

 a small hickory tree, beside a road. 



It then contained two eggs. They 

 were thrown from the nest, presumably, 

 by a small boy trying to get them. 



I supposed that this would end their 

 nest-building for the season, but about 

 a week later I discovered another nest 

 in the orchard containing two eggs. 

 The heavy storm which visited us just 

 after that, destroyed that nest also. 



Inside of a month this pair of birds 

 had built four nests, moved the mater- 

 ial twice, and laid six eggs. I trust that 

 fortune at last smiled on their efforts. 



B. S. BOVi^DISH, 



Phelps, N. Y. 



An Axiom:— We find that advertising 

 in Oologist pays well.— W. L. & R. D. 



FOXHALL. 



