THE 05L0GIST. 



155 



Here they remained stationary and 

 turned round and round with their 

 heads under water, catchina: the small 

 crustaceans that seem to be their princi- 

 pal 'diet. The form of their beak is 

 such that when it is placed on the 

 ground the upper mandible is under- 

 neath. This beingf larjre and strong, 

 soon opens up the circular depression 

 that first called my attention. Before 

 the tide is all out they usually leave be- 

 cause the crustaceans have by this time 

 hidden in the sand. 



The Flamingo frequents this coast 

 only during the winter months and con- 

 sequently does not nest here, nor is it 

 known to nest west of the Andes moun- 

 tains. Their nests and young, however, 

 have been observed in great numbers 

 in the small lakes of brackish water 

 that abound on the plains of Patagonia 

 east of the mountains. Undoubtedly 

 these are the same birds that spend 

 their winters in Chile, the lofty Andes 

 proving no barrier to their flight. There 

 are many roads by which they can pass, 

 the mountains b°ing intercepted by fre- 

 quent rivers that empty into the Pacific, 

 and have their origin beyond the snow- 

 covered Andes, in the plains of the Ar- 

 gentine Republic— J. C. Hambleton in 

 The S. U. Naturalist. 



An Albino English Sparrow- 



The European House Sparrow, which 

 is generally known as "English Spar- 

 row," was not known in this country 

 fifty years ago, but today is scattered 

 over our states from the Atlantic to the 

 Pacific and from the Lakes to the Gulf. 

 This detestable little Sparsow has driv- 

 en almost all our song birds from our 

 midst, such as the Bluebird, Martin 

 and Wrens. 



These Sparrows, together with the 

 Bronzed Grackle, have about taken 

 possession of our city. Each evening 

 the air is filled with these blackbirds 

 coming in to roost in the large maple 



shade trees that line the streets of our 

 beautiful city. 



Everywhere we go, through city or 

 country, we see hundreds of these^^Spar- 

 rows which are a pest to the farmer as 

 well as the citizens of our towns. 

 Among the thousands that we see every 

 day I had never seen an albino, but on 

 last Decoration Day a young man who 

 knew that I was interested in birds 

 came to my house and said that his 

 father had killed a small bird that 

 morning that was pure white, which he 

 had intended to bring in to me but had 

 come off forgetting it. Knowing that 

 it must be a rare bird of some kind, j 

 at once got into my buggy and started 

 for his home, a distance of five miles 

 in the countrv. Arriving tnere I was 

 given the specimen, which upon exam- 

 ination I found to be an albino Euro- 

 pean House Sparrow. It was pure 

 white, not a colored feather on it. 



It had been with the "English Spar- 

 rows" around the barnyard. I found 

 the bird in a very bad condition as it 

 had been killed with No. 7 shot, but I 

 brought it home, cleaned it off nicely 

 and after a great deal of hard work got 

 a ve ry nice mounted specimen which I 

 now have in my collection. 



This is the only pure white albino I 

 have heard of in our state for five or 

 six years. There have been a few not- 

 ed, but there were none of them, so far 

 as I know, that were pure white. I 

 will not take up any more of your 

 space, but if this letter is of sufiicient 

 interest to justify publication will send 

 in a few notes at some future time. 



Hoping to hear from any bird stu- 

 dents over the country and with best 

 wishes for the Oologist I close. 



G. G. Welsh, 

 Greensburg, Ind. 



The Arctic Three-toed Woodpecker. 



In your April issue Mr. C. F. Posson 

 mentions the Arctic Three-toe as a rare 

 species in Western New York, even 



