334 



THE OOLOGIST 



morning I found that two of the doves 

 had been picked up on the vessel, in 

 an exhausted condition, and that the 

 captain had them in an extemporized 

 cage, and he had them when I left the 

 ship at New York, eight days later. 

 I found that the Yellow Wagtail had 

 left us, but that the Lark was still with 

 us, and it stayed all day until we were 

 800 miles from land, but I could not 

 find it the following morning. 



On our second day out from Gibral- 

 tar and when 500 miles from land a 

 large wader which I felt sure was a 

 Greenhawk (Totanus canescens) was 

 flying about the ship, coming at times 

 very near it, but afraid to alight any- 

 where on it. I last saw it at sunset 

 800 miles from land. 



In every case except the last, the 

 supposition would be that the birds 

 were attracted by the steamer's lights, 

 when near shore, and flew about them 

 till out of sight of land, by which time 

 they were completely bewildered and 

 lost, with no sense of direction left. 

 Some birds, of course, go at times, far 

 beyond their usual range without be- 

 ing lost, and a Black Vulture (Cathar- 

 ista atrata) was shot on the 7th of 

 this month, in a town adjoining this 

 on the Vermont side of the line, and 

 was brought to me for identification. 

 I also have a Leech's Petrel (Cymo- 

 chorea leucorrhoa) shot on a small 

 lake near here, and fully 200 miles 

 from the ocean. 



During the past five years some 20 

 to 25 Common Guillemots (Lourvia 

 troile) have been picked up on the 

 snows of December and January in 

 this town, half of them in one winter. 

 Some were dead but there were more 

 live ones, though they seemed unable 

 to take wing. 



These instances might be continued, 

 but my article is already long enough. 



F. T. Pember. 

 Granville, N. Y. 



Instead of this article being long 

 enough, it is too short, and we hope 

 friend Pember will continue his con- 

 tributions to The Oologist. It is a long 

 time since we have seen anything on 

 the subject of birds from his pen, and 

 are very sure the "old timers" will 

 join us in soliciting him to continue 

 the good work. — Ed. 



The Black and Turkey Vulture. 



I will try to give a few points on the 

 vulture for the best bird magazine in 

 the world. First of all I will say that 

 the Vultures are a very interesting 

 study of birds, laying from one to 

 three eggs before setting, but usually 

 they lay two eggs. I have found a set 

 of one Black Vulture, two different 

 times, and they were well incubated. 

 This Spring about June first, Woodruff 

 Yeates, a Fort Worth bird collector, 

 and I went to a Vulture grounds about 

 twenty miles from here. We had the 

 good luck to find one set of three Tur- 

 key Vulture, six sets of two Turkey 

 Vulture, and two sets of one. All these 

 were found in about four hours' hunt. 



I find that the Black Vultures pre- 

 fer the rock ledges and thick under 

 brush, while the Turkey Vulture will 

 lay in Boisdarc Hedges, underbrush 

 and rock caves. I had the experience 

 one time last spring to pull a Vulture 

 off the nest and examine her thorough- 

 ly, but that was the only time out of 

 about thirty sets collected. Usually 

 they will fly away before you get two 

 or three hundred feet from them. 



The eggs are oblong with a white 

 background, having brown blotches 

 mostly on the large end. One egg be- 

 ing more brightly colored than the 

 other. I have one set collected last 

 Spring that are nearly white, while 

 others are thickly blotched. 



R. Graham. 

 Ft. Worth, Texas. 



