THE OOLOGIST 
A Paddle Down The Nuevas River, 
November 20, 1909. 
The Nuevas river is a small but 
winding river which flows through Mc- 
Kinley, Isle of Pines, Cuba. One Sat- 
urday, three of us decided to take the 
boat and paddle down the river a 
Ways to see what birds we could. So 
we put some extra rope, a small hatch- 
et, and a heavy hunting knife togeth- 
er with something to eat and the shot 
gun. We finally got started about 9.00 
a. m., rather late for the best observa- 
tion. Every turn in the river disclos- 
ed some new beauties. 
The river is lined on both sides with 
heayy jungles and royal palms. Sev- 
eral small rapids and log jams fur- 
nished excitement as well as novelty 
to the triv. We paddled down the 
‘river for about five miles, rested a half 
hour and started back about twelve. 
We had to pole most of the way back 
because of the swift current. 
Southern, Green Herons, Cuban Ori- 
oles, Red-legged Thurshes, Cuban 
Wood Pewees, Anis, and Blackbirds 
(Ptiloxena atrovolacea 3-4) were com- 
mon, Cuban Ground Doves, Southern 
Turkey Buzards, Water-thrushes, and 
Cuban Grackles were abundant. Three 
or four Least Bittern, West Indian 
Mourning Doves, Palm Warblers and 
Cuban Kingbirds, West Indian Mourn- 
ing Doves, Palm Warblers and Cuban 
Kingbirds were also seen. Several 
Cuban Green Woodpeckers, Louisiana 
Water-thrushes, together with Cuban 
(Great) White Heron (1), Little Blue 
Heron (1), Belted Kingfishers (2), 
Pigeon “(Columba inornata_ 8-10), 
White head Pigeon (2), Cuban Mea- 
dowlark (2), Cuban Pigmy Owl (2), 
Simpkin (1), Parula Warbler (2-3), 
American Redstart (1), Cuban Parrot 
(2), Maryland Yellow-throat (1), Isle 
of Pines Trogon (1), and Palm Swift 
(2). 
An alligator was also shot. We re- 
string, 
. 
gett), “\o 5 
turned home tired, but more than 1v- 
paid for our work for we had seen 
thirty species which was not so bad 
for the late start. 
A. Ge READ: 
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The Towhee in New York, 
On July 4th last I found a Towhee’s 
nest in a rather unusual position. It 
was placed about eighteen inches from 
the ground on, rather than in a low 
thick sloping bush, I was going 
through a thick piece of undergrowth 
and came out into an old abandoned 
vineyard which was then overgrown 
with sumac, weeds and scrubby bush- 
es. I saw a nest ahead of me and a 
bird on it, which at first glance I took 
to be a Wilson’s Thrush, as the nest 
was placed up from the ground as this 
Thrush sometimes places hers. But 
I saw at once that it was a female 
Towhee, I tried to get a picture of 
the bird on the nest, but she slipped 
away before I could get my camera 
ready, and began to scold me. I did 
two nice views of the nest, one show- 
ing just the nest and eggs taken from 
the side, and the other showing more 
of the bush, was taken from above. 
The nest was on a steep side hill 
about 125 feet elevation above the lake 
in the valley below. 
Verdi Burtch, Branchport, N. Y. 
——— ——_-— > — 
Bird Accidents. 
I have noticed with interest the ac- 
counts of bird accidents in the last 
two issues cf the The Oologist. I too 
have noticed two bird accidents the 
past year. One accident is_ iden- 
tical with the one described by 
Mr. DuBois in the December issue. 
A robin endeavoring to take a 
that was wound = around 
a limb, to her nest had hopelessly en- 
tangled its feet. In this instance, how- 
