150 



THE OOLOGIST 



mated. A Black-bellied Plover came 

 speeding along and I dropped him. 

 P'artlier up I found a bunch of a dozen 

 Sanderlings and with them one Dun- 

 lin. These I passed by. The next 

 bunch contained about fifteen birds 

 and noting the direction they were 

 working I made a detour and hid be- 

 hind some wreckage. They passed 

 very close and I saw that there were 

 three Dunlins, one Semipalmated, one 

 odd one and the rest Sanderlings. I 

 shot the odd one and found it to be a 

 Bairds Sandpiper, a rather rare bird 

 in this state. At the report of the gun 

 a larger bird got up off the high beach 

 and as it swung around me I connect- 

 ed with a load of 8's and got a Golden 

 Plover. A few more Dunlins and Sand- 

 erlings were along the beach but noth- 

 ing rare. 



As I was well up toward the Flash 

 Light I turned inland to the woods 

 and ponds. 



I found large numbers of birds. 

 Some places fairly swarmed with 

 small migrants. The great bulk seem- 

 ed to be White-jthroated Sparrows. 

 There was many flocks of Robins and 

 quite a few Hermit and Olive-backed 

 Thrushes. Myrtle and Black-poll 

 Warblers were quite plentiful, but the 

 most of the Warblers had passed at 

 this date. Going around one of the 

 ponds I shot a Rusty Grackle in fine 

 rusty plumage and flushed and shot 

 about the largest and nicest specimen 

 of Wilson's Snipe that I ever took. 



At the next pond, I saw two Mal- 

 lards and a Black Duck feeding, but 

 they were out of range. From some 

 wild rice at this pond I bagged a pair 

 of Coots. In the thicket I saw what 

 I am sure was an Orange-crowned 

 Warbler, but lost sight before I could 

 slip in a light load. 



At the next pond which was always 

 the best, I took a good look and soon 

 made out some ducks feeding. Sneak- 



ing out a little wooded ridge until I 

 got about opposite I crawled out 

 through the brush and bog until I got 

 into the long grass then I took a care- 

 ful look and in nice range I saw three 

 Black Mallards and two smaller 

 ducks. When the Mallards got bunch- 

 ed I saluted them, killing two and 

 badly wounding the third. When the 

 two smaller ones jumped they happen- 

 ed to get in line and I dropped both 

 dead with the second barrel. Another 

 shot was needed for the wounded Mal- 

 lard. The smaller ducks were a 

 Green-wing Teal, and a fine Pintail. 

 I was just in sight of the bay again, 

 when I saw a long necked duck feed- 

 ing and I crawled up and bagged a 

 drake Pintail. 



This concluded the day's perform- 

 ance and I had a nice string of game. 



The best specimens I saved, and the 

 rest kept us in meat for several meals. 



R. B. Simpson. 

 Warren, Pa. 



Great Blue Heron. 



On April 27th, 1913, visited the 

 Herony here, which is seven miles 

 north of Spencer, Wis., and contains 

 about seventy-five nests. It is located 

 in an interminable, dense, wooded 

 district. The nesting grounds are 

 partly in the lowlands and about one 

 mile from the Eau Plaine River. 



The nests are placed near the out- 

 er ends of the topmost branches of the 

 largest Elms, but few were in Birch 

 and Bass wood trees. There is an in- 

 termingling of fine Hemlock trees, but 

 none contain nests. As we entered 

 the grounds, we at once busied our- 

 selves with the camera, and a few ex- 

 posures were made. 



The Herons would soar over our 

 heaSs at low elevations, and a dozen 

 or more could be seen at a time. With 

 slowly beating wing, flying about in 

 large circles, they kept an eye on 

 their intruders. 



