THE OOLOGIST 



222 



there, but I was unable to visit the 

 nest again so do not know bow long- 

 she remained with the eggs. 



S. S. Dickey. 



A Letter. 



We publish the following without 

 having asked our friend Treganza 

 about it. But it is the kind of com- 

 munications we like to get and shows 

 the kind of material from which the 

 real naturalist is made, not the sim- 

 ple collector or the pure commercial- 

 ism but one who follows it for the 

 love of the thing. 



Many thanks for your kind offer of 

 last spring, T enclose a note or two. 

 if you care to publish them you are 

 welcome. THE OOLOGIST for De- 

 cember to hand some time ago. It 

 is fine, I look forward always to the 

 coming number with pleasure. 



In my previous letter I took occa- 

 sion to write some of my likes and 

 dislikes, and then to you I dropped 

 out of sight, not so to the birds 

 though. 



Generally speaking it has been a 

 successful season with me, yet to 

 many collectors my work or rather 

 its results would be looked upon in 

 the light of a day"s jaunt, while to 

 me the time lengthened into days, 

 weeks and even months of hard 

 work, but full of pleasure and inter- 

 est. 



I am jollied by the question, What 

 pleasure do you have in tramping dav 

 after day, wet or dry, sunshine or 

 shadow, after a few birds we all 

 know? How can we answer such 

 questions. • I find that the people do 

 not understand the question they ask, 

 always. They — the people — look on 

 all work in the compensation. I had 

 almost said commercialism, as they 

 often add to the previous question, 

 How much do you make a year out 



of it? Money, none is my reply. Yet 

 the one who follows it surely has 

 longer life and more of it than he 

 who labors for dollars and what they 

 will buy. 



This question often comes to my 

 mind. Why is it so few who have 

 means would add years of life to en- 

 joy, take no interest in nature's field 

 of labor, Friend Barnes, Is it lack of 

 education along the line of Natural 

 History? 



Here I am near 70 years old, and 

 12 to 20 miles a day from April 1st 

 to Sept 1st is my daily walk; and 

 looking forward hoping I may learn 

 more about our birds. 



I would have earlier sent you some 

 notes, but Sept 7th I received word 

 that my son, A O Treganza, was sick 

 of typhoid in its worst form, so my 

 field work came to an end for this 

 vear. 



While convalescing (that is my 

 son) we sent you a small exchange. 



Then maybe some who appreciate 

 their own collecting more than ever, 

 but I have never met but few. If 

 the notes I send are satisfactory you 

 let me know and I shall try to help 

 you in your work, and I have no: 

 seen a report from Utah, I shall be 

 in the field again in sixty days so 

 shall try to get something to report 

 on the Nutcracker, I find but little in 

 print that meets my experience wich 

 this bird although quite intimate for 

 forty forty years, from Colorado to 

 California and back. 



Edward Treganza. 



The Western Horned Owl in Western 

 Kansas. 



The Western Horned Owl, while 

 not a common bird here, is occasion- 

 ally met with in suitable localities. 

 They are to be looked for along the 

 timber fringed streams and are sel- 

 dom seen far from the limestone 



