THE OOLOGIST'S EXCHANGE. 



Vol. 1. 



AUSTIN, ILL., MAECH, 1888. 



No. 3. 



Our 'Prize Offer. 



In answer to our "Prize Story" offer of 

 last month, we have received several 

 interesting and instructive articles, with 

 which we are so well pleased that we 

 have decided to continue the practice of 

 offering prizes for articles setting forth 

 the habits of one or more of our North 

 American Birds : or for collecting exper- 

 ience. 



The names of the winners of the Febru- 

 ary prizes, together with their articles, 

 will appear in our next issue. 



The March prizes will be as follows; 

 First, a set of five eggs of the Am. Barn 

 Owl; Second, a set of seven eggs of the 

 Florida Quail. 



For conditions of competition send 

 stamp to "The Oologist's Exchange." 



A 'Roman Itiaven. 



Pliny states, that a tame raven which 

 had been kept in the Temple of Castor, 

 paid frequent visits to a tailor in the 

 neighborhood. This man was much 

 pleased with its visits and taught the 

 bird various tricks; and to pronounce the 

 names of the emperor Tiberius, and those 

 of all the members of the royal family. 

 Its fame reached the remotest corners of 

 Borne, and from the number who came to 

 see this prodigy, the tailor became rich. 

 An envious neighbor killed the raven, and 

 blasted the tailor's future hopes of for- 

 tune. The Bomans were incensed at this 

 wanton cruelty, punished the offender,and 

 gave to the bird all the honors of a mag- 

 nificent interment. 



—Mr. W. Mattieu Williams thinks that 

 the instinct which guides the swallow 

 southward in autumn is probably of a 

 very practical and unpoetical kind. Its 

 food is chiefly flying insects, whose devel- 

 opment ceases with the advance of cold 

 from the north, and in migrating the bird 

 is simply following its retreating food 

 supply. 



— There is at the present time . in the 

 zoological gardens of Philadelphia a cock- 

 atoo known to be eighty -five years of age, 

 the bird being still sprightly and thriving. 



ji.t the Ostrich Farm. 



One of the first places to which the sight- 

 seer repairs in Los Angeles is Washington 

 garden. Last autumn about forty fine, 

 large ostriches were brought here, and 

 they form the chief attraction of the gar- 

 den. In spite of the injunction, "Do not 

 feed the birds," painted in large letters on 

 the fence outside the inclosure in which 

 they are kept, the temptation to disregard 

 it seems to be great, for very little atten- 

 tion is paid to the prohibition. When 

 the writer had the pleasure of looking at 

 these birds they had been plucked only a 

 few days before, and a more awkward, 

 clumsy, ungainly set of creatures would be 

 hard to imagine. 



It was rare sport to feed them with or- 

 anges; to see them come to the fence, look 

 at you with their curious, snakehke, ex- 

 pressionless eyes, and then, curving their 

 long necks, dexterously snatch an orange 

 from the fingers or umbrella tips of the 

 more timid of their would be benefactors. 

 The interesting part now comes, as the 

 progress of the orange (which has been 

 swallowed whole) can be traced all the 

 way down the three feet or more of neck 

 that intervenes between the throat and 

 the body of the bird. Down, down, goes 

 the orange, until it finally disappears be- 

 neath the bunch of feathers which grows 

 on the chest of the bird. 



There is no end to the ostrich capacity. 

 One man curious to see how much a bird 

 would eat, selected one, and after gather- 

 ing from the surrounding trees a number 

 of oranges, proceeded to feed his bird. 

 He gave him thirty-six oranges, nearly 

 filling the long, slender throat, so that the 

 annual finally looked as if his neck were 

 composed of a succession of tumors. In 

 a short time, however, the oranges had 

 worked and screwed themselves down, 

 and there stood the bird, his long neck 

 stretched out, his whole attitude one of 

 expectancy, and like Oliver, he wanted 

 more. — New York World. 



— In the stomach of a blue heron shot 

 by Charles Smith at Burg Hill, O., was 

 found forty-seven carp. From the appear- 

 ance they constituted but one meal, and 

 had just been swallowed. 





