THE OOLOGIST 77 
their young near such a thickly popu- 
lated place as the shores of Lake Le- 
man. There is one place however, 
where the gulls might nest, and this 
is at the eastern end of the lake 
where the river Rhone flows into it. 
Here the ground is low and swampy 
and is covered with a thick-growing 
low bush of some species unknown to 
the writer. Ground of this nature 
would make a typical nesting home 
for the Black-headed gulls and later in 
the spring, I intend to make an ex- 
haustive search over this territory in 
hopes of finding the birds at home. 
Ti such a trip be made I shall report 
the results of it in a later number of 
THE OOLOGIST. 
P. G. HOWES. 
bee Bs ee Abie eee LES 
Mr. A. C, Read, now of the Isle of 
Pines, reports the taking of an English 
‘Blackbird (Merula merula)at Toledo, 
‘Ohio on October 30, 1906, as follows: 
“Saw today a bird that has been puz- 
‘zling me all fall. In size and shape it 
resembles a Robin; also in its walk 
/or run, but in color it resembles a 
‘Blackbird, being jet black. Its notes 
when alarmed, are much like those of 
a robin, although a few are somewhat 
jlike these of a Grackle. Took this 
‘bird November 3d, sent it to Norman 
/A. Wood of the University of Michigan 
‘for identification. He pronounced it 
an English Blackbird (Merula merula) 
but. sent it to the Smithsonian Insti- 
tute for further identification. The In- 
stitution verified his identification. In 
all probability it was an escaped cage 
bird, but I could learn of no-one who 
had one in our town, nor of any bird 
dealer who had ever seen one.” 
Sera A See ee 
The article in the May issue. relat- 
ing to the Delaware Valley Ornitholo- 
gical Club should have been credited 
to W. M. Strong. 
In the Rhone Valley of Switzerland. 
On the morning of April 4, 1910, the 
writer started on a trip to the Valley 
of the Rhone in search of the nest- 
ing home of the Black-headed Gull. 
The Rhone is but fifteen miles from 
Vevey and is easily reached as many 
small steamers make daily visits to 
all parts of the lake. I disembarked 
at Villeneuve, a small town about 
three-quarters of a mile from the val- 
ley proper. Here I hired a row boat 
and after loading it with my cameras 
and other collecting materials, I was 
soon on my way to the supposed nest- 
ing home of “Ridibundus.” 
It was a typical April day; the 
sun was clear and warm and the liquid 
songs of Black thrushes and Chaffin- 
ches seemed to pour forth from every 
bush and tree as I started on my two- 
mile row to the mouth of the river. 
This low, swampy valley is perhaps 
some four miles wide, lying between 
great snow-capped mountains whose 
blue-shadowed crevices contrast vivid- 
ly with their white, snow-covered 
peaks reaching to Altitudes high 
above the low hanging clouds. To the 
north the Tour d’Ai rise almost per- 
pendicularly from the valley to an ‘al- 
titude of 7005 feet. To the south are 
the well known Dents du Midi whose 
highest peak reaches 9555 feet and di- 
rectly in front of us, far in the east, 
. the Dent de Morcles rises like a great 
blue cone to an altitude of 8814 feet. 
The extreme end of Mount Gram- 
mont also rolls up from the southern. 
side of the valley and one half mile to 
the north of this the Rhone empties. 
into Lake Leman, 
I landed but a few yards from the 
river’s mouth and at once started to 
search the swampy country to the 
north of it. By 2 p. m. 4 strip one 
mile in Jength by one hundred and 
fifty feet in width had been carefully 
