THE OOLOGIST 



201 



of THE OOLOGIST in the Editor's 

 "In Memoriam," a sentiment with 

 which I am entirely in accord. I 

 notice his reference to the "splendid 

 California Condor, the stately Trum- 

 peter Swan, the beautiful Ivory-billed 

 Woodpecker and the magnificent 

 Whooping GROW." 



I must admit that I was somewhat 

 puzzled over the correct identification 

 of the latter species, but I think I 

 place him all right. I recall to memory 

 an occasion about four years ago while 

 collecting on the edge of a swamp 

 bordering on a field of corn stubble, a 

 somewhat obstreperous crow coming 

 down the line too close to me ere he 

 saw his mistake. When he saw me he 

 let go one startled and raucous Whoop, 

 and turned a complete summersault 

 in the air trying to get back to the 

 home plate before he was put out. 



On the spur of the moment, and be- 

 ing a little startled myself, I let go a 

 charge of sixes and hit that crow in 

 no vital place. I think it was where 

 his steernum attached to his duodinum 

 and some of his lesser light, — and you 

 ought to have heard that Crow 

 whoop. He whooped it up to beat the 

 band for a quarter of a mile. He was 

 a Whooping Crow all right, but from 

 the abnormal size and volume of the 

 white streak he left behind, I could not 

 see anything specially magnificent 

 about him. 



Frank S. Wright. 

 Auburn, N. Y. 



The above comes in our mail and is 

 altogether too good to keep. Editing 

 THE OOLOGIST six hundred miles 

 from the place of publication is hard 

 enough, but when the proof reader 

 cannot tell a Crow from a Crane, it 

 is what Sherman called war. — Editor. 



lection of live birds, a pair of these 

 rare and beautiful swan. Coming 

 from the Southern Hemisphere the 

 seasons will be reversed for them, and 

 we do not know how they will stand 

 our northern climate, but determin- 

 ed to take a chance on it which, if 

 unfortunate, will be expensive. 



The birds are about two-thirds the 

 size of our great American Trumpeter 

 Swan. They have pure white body 

 and wing feathers with a black neck 

 and head, a small white line passes 

 from the base of the bill Dack over and 

 under each eye, a mere pencelling. 

 The legs are a very light purplish 

 lavender color and the bill of the same 

 color with a salmon colored saddle 

 like knob at the base of the upper 

 mandible covering the anterior third 

 of the same. They swim with the 

 arched neck of the European Mute or 

 Park Swan. Altogether they are truly 

 elegant and graceful birds of seeming- 

 ly mild disposition, and very tame. 



But few pairs of these rare birds 

 can be found in North America, none 

 of course in a wild state. Their home 

 is in the southern part of South Amer- 

 ica, and we deem ourselves lucky to 

 secure such specimens. The books 

 tell us that unless protected from the 

 cold they are likely to go blind in ex- 

 treme weather, and of course this com- 

 ing season being their first in the 

 northern Hemisphere, the danger will 

 come with their first molt. 



Later. The female has just died. — 

 Editor. 



Black Necked Swan. 



October 15th we added to our col- 



They Never Recover. 



A letter from far away Mexico con- 

 tains among other things the follow- 

 ing: 



"I was a subscriber to your publica- 

 tion twenty-five years ago, from my 

 boyhood in Illinois, and wish to renew 

 my acquaintance with lovers of bird 

 life, for I have never recovered from 

 my active interest in nature." 



