THE OOLOGIST'S EXCHANGE. 



Vol. 1. 



AUSTIN, ILL., FEBRUAEY, 1888. 



No. 2. 



Prize Story. 



For the most interesting collecting experience, 

 or an article giving the best account of the habits, 

 nesting or otherwise, of any North American Bird, 

 we will give a set of 2 eggs and nest of No. 335, 

 Ruby-throated Humming-bird. For the next 

 best article we will give a set of 1 egg No. 585, 

 American Flamingo. 



All articles sent in for competition shall become 

 the property of the paper, and must not contain 

 over 750 words. All articles must be in by March 1. 



Now collectors, we have made you a good offer; 

 show us that you appreciate it, by giving us a 

 hearty response. The names of the prize winners, 

 together with their articles, will be published in 

 the April No. of the "Oologist's Exchange." 

 Oologist's Exchange, 



Austin, HI. 



Falconry in Syria. 



I have been out in the mountains to see 

 them hunt; it is a most exciting scene. The 

 emeers sit on horses, holding the falcons 

 on their wrists; the woods are filled with 

 their retainers, beating about and shout- 

 ing, to start up and drive toward them the 

 poor partridges. When near enough, the 

 falcon is launched from the hand, and 

 swoops down upon his victim like an eagle 

 hasting to his prey. After he has struck 

 his quarry, the falcon flies a short distance, 

 and lights on the ground, amid the re- 

 doubled shouts of the sportsmen. The 

 keeper darts forward, secures both: cuts 

 the throat of the partridge, and allows its 

 captor to suck its blood. This is his 

 reward. Notwithstanding the exhilara- 

 tion of the sport, I could never endure 

 the falcon himself. There is something 

 almost satanic in his eye, and in the feroc- 

 ity with which he drinks the life-blood of 

 his victim. — W. M. Thompson, D. D. 



— Mate Govier, of the steamship Jersey 

 City, of the Bristol line, reports the catch- 

 ing of a young Bald Eagle, four hundred 

 miles off Sandy Hook. It is his intention, 

 if the bird lives, to present it to some 

 zoological garden on the other side of the 

 Atlantic. 



— It has been said, that 



"The hen-hawk's scream, at hot, high noon, 

 Foretells a coming shower soon." 



'Ihe liattle-snafce. 



Conscious of deadly power, he seem'd to'say, 

 " Pass on; in peace let each pursue his way!" 

 But when the uplifted musket met his view, 

 Sudden in sounding coils his form he threw; 

 Fierce from the center rose his flatten'd head 

 With quivering tongue, and eyes of fiery red, 

 And jaws distended vast, where threatening lay 

 The fangs of death, in horrible array; 

 While poised above, invisible to view, 

 His whizzing tail in swift vibrations flew. 

 — Alexander Wilson. 



jimongr the Guillemots. 



The climbing was far from easy, but still 

 on we went, now up, now down, sometimes 

 passing Herring Gull's eggs, sometimes 

 Lesser Blackbacks', and once discovering 

 a nest of young Bock Pipits, evidently 

 hatched about a week. Suddenly a well- 

 known scent — none of the sweetest, by the 

 way made known that the Guillemots 

 were at hand, and in a few minutes we 

 were in the very thick of them. They sat 

 in rows, eight or ten together, sometimes 

 a score or more; some upon their solitary 

 egg, others upon none at all, but most of 

 them so tame that we could have knocked 

 them down with a long stick. The ledges 

 upon which they were sitting were so whi- 

 tened that scarcely an inch of the rock it- 

 self was visible, and the footing was occa- 

 sionally rendered somewhat precarious by 

 the same cause, the rock being so slippery. 

 We found the Binged Guillemot, as well 

 as the common species, and took especial 

 pains to keep the eggs of the two separate. 

 After some time spent among the Guille- 

 mots, we gained a grassy platform a little 

 farther down, where there was a small 

 stream of water, and here we got our lunch, 

 and I blew and packed the eggs at leisure. 

 — Birds of Shetland. 



— A redstart has been seen to drop a 

 beak full of nesting material to chase a 

 fly. As it did so, a summer warbler seiz- 

 ed the falling bit and made off with it. 

 The redstart caught the fly, pursued the 

 warbler, secured the nesting stuff as it 

 fell, and carried it in triumph to its un- 

 finished nest. 



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