THE OOLOGIST 



31 



Kingfishers' Nests. 



On page 10 of the new "Exchange 

 Price List," in the account of the tak- 

 ing of a set of Kingfisher eggs, the 

 writer seems to doubt the finding of 

 fish bones in a kingfisher's nest. 



Now I have examined many King- 

 fishers' nests and in the greater part 

 of them there was no attempt at nest 

 building, the eggs laying on the bare 

 earth in the enlarged end of the bur- 

 row. 



However, I found many nests where 

 there was an accumulation of fish 

 bones around the eggs; this was usu- 

 all.y in nests where the eggs were 

 partly incubated. May 16th, 1885, I 

 found a nest with four eggs, incuba- 

 tion commenced, where the eggs were 

 laid on a few dead leaves and fish 

 .bones. Verdi Burtch, 



Branchport, N. Y. 



rapid on the Athabasca River, towards 

 which the birds were flying. 



A. D. Henderson, 

 Belvedere, Alta, 



Snowy Owl and Coyote. 



While on a trip to Mounville on 

 January 24th, 1915, my partner noticed 

 a coyote with a rabbit in its mouth, 

 crossing a field. A Snow;' Owl 

 swooped several times at the coyote, 

 making it drop the rabbit twice. 



Perhaps the Owl had been the origi- 

 nal captor of the rabbit, but at any 

 rate /the Coyote remained in pos- 

 session. 



A. D. Henderson, 

 Belvedere, Alta. 



Late Mallards. 



On December 16th, 1922, late in the 

 afternoon, while I was admiring a 

 flock of Ruffed Grouse, browsing in a 

 clump of willows, I happened to 

 glance upward and saw three Mal- 

 lards flying northeast. 1 had not seen 

 a duck since Lake Nonne froze over 

 on November 18th and I suppose the 

 nearest open water would be at sonw 



Notes From Benton County, Arkansas, 

 the Land of a Million Birdr-. 



Unusual conditions prevail in this 

 vicinity, due I believe to the extremely 

 mild weather conditions that have so 

 far been experienced. Robins are still 

 seen in large flocks daily, while last 

 year the last one had gone before 

 Christmas, and the first retui-ne;! on 

 the 24th of January. 



At this season of the year net as 

 many birds are seen in the frui^ and 

 shade trees as during the spring and 

 summer months, but in the big ^\oods, 

 brush lands, along the spring branches 

 and small streams they are found by 

 thousands. The tall timber find.j large 

 flocks of Flickers, numerous kinds of 

 Woodpeckers, ranging in size from the 

 busy Downy to the great Pileate I • the 

 harsh cry of the Blue Jay and the caw 

 of the Crow also announce their pres- 

 ence. The brush lands claim most of 

 bird box, by using a small white pine 

 the Red Birds, Wrens, Tom-Tits, Chick- 

 adees, Robins and various Sparrows. 

 Along the creeks, in large numb'^n^, we 

 have Cowbirds, Blackbirds, Cedar 

 Waxwings, Juncos and numerous 

 others of our feathered friends in 

 smaller numbers. 



* * • 



My First Set. 

 According to the usual way of things, 

 as I understood them, my first set of 

 eggs should have been English Spar- 

 row or at most Jay or Robin; how- 

 ever my first set consisted of three 

 Crested Flycatcher eggs, taken from 

 as eccentric a pair of birds as I ever 

 heard of. This is the way it happened: 

 One morning, having nothing else to 

 do, 1 had with the assistance of a 

 neighbor boy, constructed a four-room 



