THE OOLOGIST. 



173 



The Bhu'k Duck is a slow coach. He is 

 ai)()Ut as good as the Mallai'd, and the 

 Wood Duck and Pintail, Widgc()ii vixn- 

 not do any Ixittev. The Red Head can 

 go easily ;)() miles ;in hour as long as he 

 likes; all day it' necessary. The Bine- 

 winged Teal and its l)eaiitiful cousin, 

 the (rrt'en-\viiig(Hl Tt^al can tiy side by 

 side and make 100 )uiles per hour and 

 lake it ea.^y. The Gadwall, you see 

 Iheni lu're. very seldom, though well 

 known west of the Allegheny river and 

 as Kishammock, though looking like 

 the Mallard, is a smarter duck and hard- 

 er to shoot. It can make 90 miles an 

 hour and not try hard. 



May))e you think a goose can't iiy 

 last. Why, it can double the speed (^f 

 the fastest railroad train. Of course I 

 mean a wild goose. It can get from 

 feeding ground to feeding ground so 

 suddenly that it fools some of our best 

 wing shots. If j-'ou see a Mock of Honk- 

 ers moving along so high that they seem 

 to scrape their backs t(^ the sky you 

 wouldn't think they v.ere making near- 

 ly 100 miles per hcnir, but tliey are. 

 The wild goose is not much on foot, but 

 it still means business every time. The 

 Broad-billed goose comes next to the 

 Canvass Back in speed. Put the two 

 together and in an hour the Broad-bill- 

 >h1 Goose will only l:e 10 miles Ix'hind 

 the Canvass Back. 



The fastest railroad train cannot hold 

 a candle by the side of the slowest duck 

 that flies. 



This information comes from corres- 

 pondence of life-long gunners. And 

 gunners will tell j'ou. that I have hit 

 the mark pretty close. 



A. W. NOLTE, 

 Los 7^ng(iles, Cal. 



The White-eyed or Florida Towhee. 



Having ne^cr noticed anything ab<nit 

 this bird, 1 thought I would tell what I 

 know about them. To begin with, 

 plumage. Male, head and neik to point 

 of .Ineast jet black; breast and belly 



greyish white; sides and under tail red- 

 dish brown; lack edge of tail when 

 spread white; back and top of tail black- 

 isli bi'own. 



Female, plumage same as male, e.\- 

 cei)t head and neck, chestnut brown, 

 Both birds have a narrow Ijar of white 

 on each, wing, which looks like a smalU 

 patch when the wing is closed; also a 

 small crest which is raised and lowered 

 at will. So far for description. Not 

 very seientilic to say the least. 



Th '. Towhee whistles a few notes, the 

 most frequent of which is "Jo-ree, Jo- 

 ree" uttered as it jumps about on the 

 ground. It frequents low scrub land 

 and palmetto patc-hes, where it is very 

 abu.ndant. It has a peculiar way of 

 scratching with both feet and makes so 

 much fuss that I have often, while out 

 hunting, got down on my knees to look 

 in the brush, expecting to see some 

 large, only to see a "Jo-ree" scratching 

 away for "dear life," and making the 

 leaves fly in every direction. 



Though the bird is so plentiful, I have 

 ne\er found a nest and can not tell any- 

 thing about its nesting habits. 



WiLLARD Eliot, . 

 Thonotosassa, Fla. 



A Peculiar Westing Site. 



While out Ashing with some friends 

 I sat down on a rotten stump and be- 

 gan to push it over. At that moment a 

 Black-ca])ped Chickadee flew out of a 

 hole near the bottom of the stum]). I 

 looked in and to my siu'prise I saw six 

 eggs. The hole was about three inches 

 aijove the ground and nest two inches 

 below the surface. Upon examining 

 the eggs tlwy were found to be as pe- 

 culiar as the site of tlie nest, being larg- 

 er than usual and were covered with 

 blotches instead of s])ots of brown. 



Thus I found ni.y flrst underground 

 Chickadee's nest. 



C.V.Wheeler, 

 Chesterville, Me. 



