THE OOLOGIST 



33 



Four Mallards. 

 A very peculiar incident happened 

 Thursday of last week, Jan. 12, that 

 may be of interest to some of your 

 readers. During a wind and rain storm 

 that prevailed pretty generally over 

 the southern part of the state, a flock 

 of four Mallards, all drakes, appeared 

 in the little town of Huntingburg, Ind., 

 and alighted on a corrugated iron shed 

 in front of one of the stores on the 

 main street. A number of boys im- 

 mediately began climbing after them 

 when they took wing. One came in 

 contact with an electric light wire and 

 fell to the ground stunned, and was 

 picked up and taken away. The other 

 three flew on for about a square and in 

 passing an enclosure in which a num- 

 ber of tame ducks were kept, dropped 

 down among them, in a seemingly ex- 

 hausted condition. They were easily 

 caught and one wing clipped, and now 

 seem happy and contented with their 

 tame companions. I was only in the 

 town for a few hours Sunday, enroute 

 to Louisville, so did not have time to 

 trace up or learn the fate of the 

 fourth. The three are in beautiful plu- 

 mage and are attracting quite a good 

 deal of attention. 



Respectfully, 



L. E. Miller. 



Some Rare Waterfowl. 



2. Holbell's Grebe. This Grebe is a 

 rare bird in this state, but I have a 

 few records and have taken three here 

 myself. Two were adults and are 

 now in my collection. I shot them 

 April 18, 1892 and April 18, 1905. I 

 also shot one in an opening in the ice, 

 February 2, 1904. This one was in 

 winter pluumage. 



11. Red-throated Loon. I have two 

 mounted specimens. One was shot 

 here at Warren on February 12, 1904, 

 and the other at Erie, Pennsylvania, 

 February 17, 1904. 



. .31,. Brunnich's Murre. I have a 

 mounted specimen, shot at Erie, Penn- 

 sylvania, on November 27, 1900. 



42. Glaucous Gull. February 22, 1908 

 at Erie, Pa., I found a flock of 2.5 to 

 30 Herring Gulls about an opening in 

 the bay at the mouth of Mill Creek. 

 Amongst them was a very large white 

 Gull. The Herrings were in all stages 

 of plumage from the dark young to 

 the adult and as I laid on the ice all 

 morning within 20 rods, I had a fine 

 chance to compare them with the odd 

 one. The Herrings frequently came 

 within range, but the odd one stayed 

 a little too far away for a shot-gun. 

 This odd fellow was apparently pure 

 white, but several times on coming 

 close, I could see a slight shade of 

 cream of yellowish over the back and 

 wings. It was much larger than the 

 Herrings and could hardly have been 

 an Iceland. If I had had a couple of 

 days at my disposal, I think I could 

 have bagged it. 



64. Caspian Tern. I have two in my 

 collection, that I shot on the "Penin- 

 sula" at Erie, on September 17, 1900. 

 One is a young female and the other 

 an old male in full dress. I also shot 

 one in fall plumage September 20, 

 190.5. I saw three here at Warren, 

 May 7, 1908. They were in full dress. 



120. Double-crested Cormorant. Saw 

 one in full dress here on the river. 

 May 1, 1903. One was shot here in 

 the Fall, a number of years ago. 



135. Gadwall. Three were shot here 

 March 20, 1890 and I saw one that 

 was taken at Erie, November 18, 1902. 



142. Shoveller. Have a specimen 

 that I shot at Erie, November 13, 1903. 



162. King Elder. A specimen in my 

 collection was taken at Erie, Decem- 

 be 22, 1904. 



163. American Scoter. I have one 

 that I shot on Erie Bay, November 8. 

 1903. 



165. White-winged Scoter. I got a 

 male in full plumage here at Warren, 

 May 27, 1891. Adults are very rare 

 even at Erie. 



166. Surf Scoter. Secured one at. 

 Erie on November 7, 1903. 



R. B. Simpson, Warren, Pa. 



