THE OOLOGIST. 



167 



is very distinct and original. Open pla- 

 ces in the woods, where the maples 

 grow from one to ten feet above the 

 ground, sem to be infested with some- 

 thing edible and particularly fascinat- 

 ing to this daintily-hued bird. I had 

 almost resolved that the wood-lands 

 contained nothing but bachelors of 

 this strikingly handsome warbler un- 

 til with the aid of opera glasses, 1 

 discerned a female Black-throated 

 Blue acting suspiciously about a 

 clump of maples. After carefully 

 searching. I found a large, bulky, but 

 artistic nest containing four eggs of 

 this variety. 



My companion visited a place some 

 miles to the east, but in the vicinity 

 of the same rivulet. He had the pleas- 

 ure of becoming personally acquaint- 

 ed with the Myrtle and Black-throated 

 Green Warblers, also the White- 

 crowned Sparrow. His red letter day 

 was brought to a climax while "still 

 fishing" in the shady portion of a lit- 

 tle bay, late one afternoon. A large 

 Buff-breasted Duck flew past his boat, 

 skimming the water's surface and ar- 

 riving upon a dead pine stub (imbed- 

 ded in a gravelly part of the beach, 

 on a little point), her feet dangling 

 in the air, she dropped out of sight 

 into the old stump. On examining 

 this old remnant of a once stately 

 pine, the bark was found to be in such 

 a state of decomposition that it was 

 easy to remove the exterior of the 

 stub, and the parent bird could be 

 seen sitting on a level with the eye, 

 and probably three and one-half feet 

 below the entrance. There were 

 twelve eggs of the American Mergan- 

 ser in this hollow, and indications 

 showed there were numerous layers 

 of down, and the bird had evidently 

 resorted to the same place for years. 

 GERARD ALAN ABBOT. 



THE QUAIL TRAP. 



C. L. Rawson. 



In Norwich, Conn. Bulletin. 

 The Quail Trap, Oct. 15.— If over 

 one hundred men with shotguns are 

 to be legally turned loose yearly in 

 every country village in Connecticut 

 there are reasons worth mentioning 

 why the season should not open till 

 Oct. 15. The few young quail are not 

 large enough to shoot, the fall flight 

 of woodcock from the north has not 

 begun, the second litter of gray squir- 

 rels are only half grown, and rabbits 

 are not in prime condition for the ta- 

 ble till the green summer food is elim- 

 inated by heavy frosts. 



The most convincing argument to 

 the true sportsman is that leaves are 

 now too thick to allow them to prop- 

 erly sight and kill ruffed grouse. The 

 snap shots taken by ear or guess, 

 through screening foliage, wing or 

 wound many partridges that are left 

 unretrieved to slowly die of their 

 hurts. On October 1st, the day the 

 law was off, a grouse raised in the. 

 town limits, was driven from the 

 woods bleeding with gunshot wounds, 

 to die on a piazza on Beech street. 

 Two badly wounded and dying chick- 

 en partridgges were taken from the 

 stone walls here, driven afield 'by- 

 hunters who could not follow their 

 line of flight on account of leaves. I 

 have in- mind a house near here be- 

 tween two leafy swamps where grouse 

 were raised this year and last season. 

 Driven from one grove towards the 

 other by dogs and guns, some of these 

 birds, blinded by terror, are dashed 

 to death against this house. Some old 

 local shots, because of inability to 

 see flushed grouse, say they will not 

 go into the woods till the last of Octo- 

 ber. They say it has been too hot in 

 the fields for the dogs and too close 

 In the woods. 



