OOLOGIST'S EXCHANGE. 



On land the bird is very awkward in its 

 movements, but in the water they appear 

 their best, swimming with grace and ease. 

 As divers they are surpassed by very few 

 birds. They dive suddenly, swim rapidly 

 under water, and are able to remain under 

 a long time, often coming up at a great dis- 

 tance from place of going down. 



The food of the Loon consists mostly of 

 Ash. Its flesh is occasionally eaten, though 

 tough and rank. 



It is safe to say that pickerel are never 

 found in a lake frequented by the Loons, 

 as that fish will often bite off the diver's 

 head, and has also been known to pull the 

 bird under the surface by the feet and 

 drown it. When these things occur, the 

 other Loons wisely abandon the lake. 



The cry is a long harsh whoop, and is 

 often taken for that of man. Several of 

 our party on first hearing the cry supposed 

 it to be that of a person drowning in the 

 lake, and were about to put off a boat to 

 the rescue. At dinner the first day the 

 cook informed us that he had " heard a 

 feller a hollerin' down the lake all the 

 mornin','' and thought he must be in some 

 kind of trouble. 



The nest is placed on low ground near 

 the water, many times on the small islands 

 which stud the lakes. It is a pile of grass 

 and weeds, slightly depressed. The inside 

 diameter is about eighteen inches, and 

 depth about five inches. 



The eggs are in color an olive brown or 

 an olive-drab, spotted and blotched with 

 very dark brown, almost black. 



In shape they are elongated ovals, and in 

 size vary greatly. The average is about 

 2.25 by 3.65 inches. 



Two seems to be the usual number in a 

 set, but occasionally a set of three is found. 



The English Sparrow. 



F. W. Hutches gives this item regard- 

 ing the enormous fecundity of the 

 English sparrow. If all of these spar- 

 rows are like this pair ; how can we 

 hope ever to exterminate this species ? 



In 1888 a pair of English sparrows 

 built in a tree near our house. It took 

 them quite a long time to build their 

 nest but soon after it was completed I 

 took from it six eggs, and a short time 

 after found four more. I collected three 

 of these and left one to see if the bird 

 would la^ any more. She did not seem 

 discouraged but laid three more. In all 

 I took thirteen eggs from this nest. 



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AMERICAN 

 ORNITHOLOGISTS' 

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CHECK LIST 



OF 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS 



(Abridged Edition) 1889 



Contains the correct names 

 of all North American birds 

 written up to date, and is 

 printed on one side of the 

 paper only, for convenience of 

 notes or labelling. 



By a special arrangement we 

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 this new and authoritative 

 work and The Oologist's Ex- 

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Address 



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Press of L. S. Foster, N. Y. 



