42 



THE OOLOGIST 



From the upper railroad bridge, I 

 have several times watched Loons 

 diving when the water was clear and 

 they could be plainly seen. Wings and 

 feet are both used and their progress 

 is very rapid. 



They are strong fliers and get under 

 terrific headway. I have seen one 

 coming into the river skim along for 

 twenty rods before he could come to 

 anchor. 



The largest Loon I ever saw was a 

 fine adult that I shot at town. This 

 one weighed IQi/^ pounds. From six 

 to eight pounds is the average and 

 not many go over eight. 



The Red-throated Loon has never 

 occurred here but once to my know- 

 ledge. This one was taken in an open- 

 ing in the ice on the river at town on 

 February 12th and is in the winter plu- 

 mage and is at present in my collec- 

 tion. It was shot during the winter 

 of 1903-4. The most severe winter for 

 many years, and was among the other 

 Northern visitors driven Southward. 

 About this time several were shot at 

 Brie, Pa., one of which I also secured. 

 R. B. Simpson, Warren, Pa. 



Books Received. 



Number 2, vol. 7 of the University 

 of California, publications in Zoology, 

 161 pages, 8 plates, 1 map. 



This relates to the Birds and Mam- 

 mals collected by the Alexander ex- 

 pedition along the Southwest coast of 

 Alaska, 1909, ,by Harry S. Swarth 

 and one assistant. 



It describes a trip from April 8th 

 to September 28th of that year, along 

 the mainland and adjacent islands 

 South of Juneau, Alaska: 137 species 

 of birds are listed as having been 

 seen and extensive notes are record- 

 ed with relation to some of them. The 

 country visited is well described and 

 withal it is a credible publication. 



A Costly Holbells. 



In my collection I have several Hol- 

 bifelis that I have killed here while hunt- 

 ing ducks. One of these, a fine adult 

 male in full dress, was a costly "hell- 

 diver" for one sport here, and then he 

 failed to get it. It happened several 

 years ago on the 18th of April. There 

 had been quite a severe storm the 

 night before and that morning a good 

 six inches of wet snow covered every- 

 thing. There was a heavy wind and 

 snow-squalls all day. The result was 

 quite a flight of Horned Grebes. 



A few days previous an ordinance 

 to prohibit all shooting in the borough 

 had passed third reading and was now 

 a law. Just after dinner a couple of 

 fellows got busy with a rifle and be- 

 gan bombarding the river. I took a 

 walk out to see what the war was 

 about and there, diving around, was a 

 fine Holbells. 



The fellow was a poor shot and af- 

 ter firing about twenty times without 

 result, a constable came along and in- 

 vited him to take a walk. The gun- 

 ner was assessed about. $10 for shoot- 

 ing in the borough limits. Along to- 

 ward evening the Holbells was still 

 there. The Holbells is a rare bird in 

 this state and doesn't come every day; 

 so after sizing things up a little I con- 

 cluded to take a chance at him. 



I laid my gun in my boat and rowed 

 down below him. I then rowed up 

 and he kept diving a head until about 

 at the head of the eddy when he made 

 an extra long dive and appeared 

 across and below me. 



I rowed down along shore and got 

 below again. This time I rowed up 

 slowly and kept close watch. When 

 he made what I was sure was his dive 

 to get around, I turned and rowed 

 hard for the other shore. When I 

 thought it time for him to reappear, 

 I dropped the oars and leveled my 



