THE OOLOOI8T 



289 



accumulation of years. The prepara- 

 tion of this collection is unexcelled, 

 and in most instances the specimens 

 are accompanied by nests, even those 

 of the larger birds, including the 

 Hawks. Mr. Ingersoll is at present 

 preparing a new set of elaborate cases 

 for the reception of his collection. 



At San Diego we also met for a mo- 

 ment, Lawrence Huey, who seemed a 

 mighty bright young fellow, and cer- 

 tainly a very energetic one, as he has 

 been in the habit of getting up at 

 2:00 o'clock in the morning, mount- 

 ing a motorcycle, and sometimes go- 

 ing fifteen to twenty-five miles after 

 a set and returning home in time to 

 go to work at 7:30 o'clock. Would 

 have been glad to have seen more of 

 him. 



Nature Faking. 



I was much interested in reading 

 the article on nature faking by Rich- 

 ard F. Miller in the January number 

 of THE OOLOGIST, and can say that 

 I heartily agree with the sentiments 

 which he expresses therein. It brought 

 to my mind an article which I had 

 read in a farm paper three or four 

 years ago; and which I had preserved 

 on account of some of the remarkable 

 statement which it contained. 



It was a paper on birds in their re- 

 lation to agriculture, and among other 

 statements which were decidedly in- 

 teresting and new to me, it said: 

 "The Goldfinch, sometimes known as 

 the upland plover, or in the West, the 

 Prairie pigeon, lives on noxious this- 

 tles and has ended more than one 

 locust plague." 



I do not think that this was a mis- 

 print, as there was no mention made 

 of the upland plover or prairie pigeon 

 (nor of the Bartramian Sandpiper or 

 Franklin's Gull) anywhere else in the 

 article. Considering this and the ex- 

 ample given by Mr. Miller, seriously, 



there is no doubt that the latter would 

 be more harmful, for while probably 

 very few farmers could be convinced 

 that the Goldfinch was either a Sand- 

 piper or a Gull, the story about the 

 eagles might mislead many of its 

 young readers in giving wrong ideas 

 of the size and weight of an Eagle's 

 nest, as well as the attitude of the 

 birds when their nest is disturbed. 



Again, just the other day, I noticed 

 a piece in a local paper where some 

 would-be naturalist in Chicago gave 

 as a reason for there being so many 

 Robins reported from this region in 

 January, that the people were mis- 

 taking Pine Grosbeaks for Robins. It 

 is beyond my comprehension how any- 

 body, even from Chicago, could mis- 

 take a Pine Grosbeak for a Robin, 

 but this merely goes to show the im- 

 pressions which people in the large 

 cities get from some books, written 

 by so-called naturalists. 



While probably neither of these 

 specimens is as bad as those mention- 

 ed by Mr. Miller, it is my opinion that 

 their writers would not be compelled 

 to take a back seat in any Nature 

 Fakers' Convention. 



D. C. Mabbott. 



We Are Proud. 



We believe we have some right to 

 be proud of this issue of THE OOLO- 

 GIST. For diversified ornithological 

 matter of general interest, it is doubt- 

 ful if we have ever exceeded this issue. 



Unusual Nesting Sites. 

 May 17th, '04 I noticed a bulky mass 

 of string, rags and twigs between the 

 double iron braces supporting the 

 cross arm of a telephone pole about 

 thirty feet above the ground, on climb- 

 ing to the nest I recognized my old 

 friend the Arkansas Kingbird. The 

 breezy home was occupied by four 

 young about two weeks old and I was 



