THE OOLOGIST 



249 



was falling. It was bitter cold and I 

 felt half frozen. I strung my game 

 and found I had a good load so I made 

 fast time up to the big island. 



In one of the traps I had set I saw 

 a large bird flapping about and found 

 a nice Rough leg. Also saw another 

 in the black plumage but it was too 

 wild to allow an approach. A sparrow 

 hawk, and two northern shrikes were 

 about but I didn't bother them. A 

 regular blizzard was setting in so I 

 crossed to the mainland and was lucky 

 enough to get a sleigh ride home with 

 my day's catch. 



R. B. Simpson, 

 Warren, Pennsylvania. 



A Day on the Peninsula. 



The first week of this past June, I 

 spent on a visit at Erie, Pa., and had 

 intended to spend several days looking 

 about the lake shore in hopes of see- 

 ing something new and getting a few 

 photos. 



The weather was very unfavorable 

 as it rained nearly every day and was 

 very cold and raw besides. The third 

 was the only nice day and I improved 

 it by spending all day on the "Penin- 

 sula." When I started early it looked 

 so bad that I left the camera behind — 

 a fact I afterwards regretted. 



I went out the breakwater at the 

 Soldier's Home, and got set across at 

 the Life Saving Station. I explored 

 the region of several ponds of an acre 

 or so each, and then spent about four 

 hours wading about the shores of two 

 of the larger ponds. After this I spent 

 some time on the wide outside beach 

 on the open lake, and finally went en- 

 tirely around on the outside to Walda 

 meer, where I got an electric car back 

 to the city. 



For wading about the shores of the 

 large ponds, I used an old pair of 

 shoes and trousers as the bottom is 



mighty uncertain. As the tempera- 

 ture did not get above fifty and a cold 

 northwest wind prevailed, it was any- 

 thing but pleasant wading. 



I had a large basket for turtles 

 which were numerous on the drift in 

 the cat-tails and wild rice. They were 

 stupid because of the chilly weather 

 and only went a few feet after tumbl- 

 ing in. I caught all I could possibly 

 carry, getting five or six varieties. 



The commonest bird about the 

 ponds was the Long-billed Marsh 

 Wren. They were singing everywhere 

 and many nests were scattered about. 

 These nests were mostly decoys, but 

 during the first hour, I examined four 

 that were occupied. Three contained 

 six eggs each and the other, five. 



There were a few Least Bitterns 

 about, and at one of the smaller ponds 

 was a small colony. It was evidently 

 too early for nests though. Red-wing- 

 ed Blackbirds were nesting plentifully. 

 Some already had young, but the ma- 

 jority had eggs, while some had just 

 begun nest building. 



As I passed around the head of one 

 of the smaller ponds, through a sort 

 of meadow of long grass and scatter- 

 ed low bushes, a Marsh Hawk appear- 

 ed and I soon decided by its actions 

 that there was a nest nearby. A half 

 hour's search and I found it amongst 

 some low brush and long grass. As I 

 never found a nest of this hawk be- 

 fore I was somewhat interested. The 

 nest, a mass of old grass, contained 

 four newly hatched young, and one ad- 

 dled egg, which latter, I took. I did 

 not see any rails, although at least 

 two species breed here. A great many 

 common land birds were about, and I 

 saw nests of Maryland Yellow-throat, 

 Oriole, Robin, Catbird, Song Sparrow, 

 etc. 



There was also an Eagle or two in 

 sight most of the time, and at one 



