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THE OOLOGIST 



season for spring shooting already 

 seemed to show its results at this lake. 

 Not many Canvasbacks come this way 

 formerly in the fall, but last week they 

 were here by thousands. The middle 

 of the lake for five miles was simply 

 covered with them, at one time three; 

 a male and two females swam into my 

 bilnd and the yall staid with me I 

 made a fine skin of the male. 



Other ducks obtained were several 

 each of Ruddy, Black Jack, Bluebills 

 (Scaup), a pair of Hooded Mergan- 

 sers, a male Wood Duck, some Teal, 

 several Mallards, a female Cormorant, 

 a pair of Pied bill Grebes. Skins were 

 made of all the finer specimens. Amer- 

 ican Coots were too common to shoot 

 at, though many hunters were doing 

 it in mere wantonness. A few Bob- 

 whites were secured. Though it was a 

 little too early for the main flight 

 of Mallards, other ducks were here in 

 greater numbers than had been observ- 

 ed for many years. 



Dr. W. S. Strode. 

 Lewiston, 111. 



Infinitismal Subdivisions. 



Out of many letters received since 

 the November issue of THE OOLO- 

 GIST came off the press, we extract 

 the following from just one, which is 

 signed by one of the most prominent 

 of eastern ornithologists: 



"I have just read in your November 

 issue of THE OOLOGIST, your re- 

 marks 'Anent Hair-splitting, Microsco- 

 pic Subspecies.' Good. Give us more; 

 them's my sentiments." 



Snakes Eat Birds Eggs. 



May 30, 1914 I flushed a Grasshopper 

 Sparrow from her nest of four eggs in 

 a meadow and left them to go back 

 next day and get a set of five, as I 

 hoped. The next day I went to the 

 nest and all of the eggs were gone, 

 while the nest remained in perfect con- 



dition. I hunted all around on the 

 ground, but could not find any eggs or 

 pieces of shells. 



I soon flushed another Grasshopper 

 Sparrow from her nest, which had one 

 egg, and later found another with two 

 eggs, and one with three eggs, all in 

 the same field. In a couple of days I 

 went back to look at the nests and 

 every nest was empty like the first that 

 I had found. The nests were all in 

 perfect order, and there was no stock 

 in the field. What was the cause of 

 this; will they carry their eggs to an- 

 other nest or not? 



Guy W. Day. 



The cause of the foregoing disap- 

 pearance of eggs is without doubt the 

 black snake or blue racer. These 

 snakes are inveterate egg thieves. — 

 Editor. 



The Starling at Hartford, Connecticut. 



It is estimated that there are over 

 ten thousand Starlings roosting night- 

 ly in the two spires of the Cathedral 

 on Farmington avenue. There are over 

 three thousand roosting in the pine 

 and hemlock grove in Kenny Park 

 across the street from my house and 

 they keep up a constant chatter all 

 night. They are increasing at an alarm- 

 ing rate as they raise from four to 

 six young to a brood, and two broods a 

 year. They are driving out the Flick- 

 ers, Sparrow-hawks and other birds 

 very fast. ' They do not as yet seem to 

 trouble small fruits or grain in feed- 

 ing their young, they go to a plough- 

 ed field for the food. It is only a 

 matter of a few years when they will 

 be a pest. 



Clifford M. Case. 



Small Woodpecker's Eggs. 



On May 25, 1914, I took a queer set 

 of Red-headed Woodpecker eggs from 

 a hole in a dead stub about fifteen 

 feet up. There were three eggs in the 



