12 



THE OOLOGIST 



Red Breasted Nuthatch. 



I take tliis opportunity to report on 

 the plentifulness of Red Breasted Nut- 

 hatches in this section, this season. In 

 a block of Pine trees near here, con- 

 taining perhaps two hundred acres, 

 these little birds are malung their 

 winter quarters evidently. On Octo- 

 ber 25th I was through there and made 

 a note of them then, and in January 

 1st was back there again and this 

 time it seemed to me they outnumiber- 

 ed the first visit. They kept up a 

 steady service of "Yank yanks" until 

 the notes of no other birds could be 

 heard. In fact, they drowned out al- 

 most every other sound. 



A friend and I counted in sight at 

 one time over two hundred fifty, and 

 this was no thicker bunch than could 

 be found almost anywhere in the 

 wood. At the time we were there on 

 January 1st there was practically no 

 snow on the ground and most of them 

 were feeding either on the ground or 

 low on the tree trunks. Now that 

 there is a heavy covering of snow on 

 the ground, am not sure how so many 

 will fare, but hope to get back soon 

 and see. , 



R. Spellum. 

 Viroqua, Wis. 



Utah Notes. 



During the latter part of May and 

 beginning of June, 1911, while on a 

 visit of ten days on business and pleas- 

 ure — that of collecting combined, at 

 Boulter, situated on Salt Lake line to 

 California, I came in contact with 

 many birds new to me. Boulter has 

 an altitude of 6000 feet, is surround- 

 ed by gently sloping hills to the East 

 and West, covered over their North 

 and West slopes with pinon pine and 

 stunted cedars. 



These cedars make admirable nest- 

 ing sites for many birds as they are 

 very old, gnarled and covered with a 



rough and shaggy bark, denoting age, 

 also many are merely empty shells, 

 the inner part having gone by decay. 

 Such trees are usually well worlved 

 over by Woodpeckers and Sapsuckers, 

 making desirable nesting sites for 

 Mountain Sparrow Hawk, Chickadees, 

 Western House Wren, Ash-throated 

 and Western Flycatchers. Of this fam- 

 ily we have also Say's Phoebe and the 

 Arkansas Kingbird. 



The eastern and southern slopes 

 are usually covered by a heavy growth 

 of sage brush at the foot of the 

 slopes and gradually diminishing to 

 almost bare ground on top. Along 

 the sage covered flats between the 

 slopes we find the most common bird 

 to be Brewer's Sparrow, whose soft 

 but melodious song is heard fromi early 

 morning to evening shadows. Com- 

 mingling with these are heard the 

 voluminous song of the Sage Thrasher 

 and call of the Green-tailed and Spur- 

 red Towhee; also the plaintiff cooing 

 of the Mourning Dove. From the west 

 slope is wafted to one's ear to soften, 

 the shrill call of the Red-tail overhead. 



To the Bast two and a half miles 

 and to the West four miles we come 

 to the foot of a higher range of moun- 

 tains, 7500 feet on the West and 6000 

 feet on the East, where we in many 

 instances are brought in contact with 

 new species overlapped by those of 

 the lower zone, of which I shall write 

 more fully later. 



May Westbrook. 

 Bingham, Utah. 



Books Received. 



"Twentieth Century IVIethod of 

 Squaring the Circle," by Harmon 

 Evans, of Dayton, Ohio. 



This little pamphlet of ten pages, 

 illustrated with diagramatic drawings, 

 gives the author's views and methods 

 of "squaring the circle," and would 

 without doubt be of interest to mathe- 



