OOLOGIST'S EXCHANGE. 



see but alarge pelican sunning himself 

 upon a snag about two hundred yards 

 away. We poled the boat ashore and 

 donning the rubber boots I proceeded 

 to crawl np to hiin. I crawled careful- 

 ly along-, parting the bushes right and 

 left, with the utmost caution, and step- 

 ping as if walking on thin glass. At 

 last I arrived as I thought within gun- 

 shot of him. I slowly and with the 

 greatest care imaginable, parted the 

 bushes and thrust the muzzle of my 

 gun through, but where was Mr. Peli- 

 can *? He was not on the snag, and I 

 had not heard him fly. Pretty soon I 

 heard a laugh from the boat and knew 

 by that that my Pelican had in some 

 way heard me and "taken himself off." 

 Just at this time a Cardinal gave note 

 in a tree near me and 1 turned round 

 to see where he was. I discovered him 

 at last in a tree about fifty yards ahead 

 of me, and quickly gave him the beue- 

 fit of my right hand barrel, which I 

 always keep loaded witli small shot. 

 Upon picking him up, or what remain- 

 ed him, I was not a little astonished to 

 find only a tail, a part of a wing and a 

 few feathers, but happened just then 

 to remember that I had put in a charge 

 of 8s for the benefit of some boat-tailed 

 Grackles. Upon my wny back I picked 

 several species of shells, among which 

 were a few of Succinea and a number 

 of Bulla Soltaria. Upon my return to 

 the boat, I proposed to Mr. li. that we 

 take a swim, us I saw we were over a 

 sandy bottom. I found the water ex- 

 ceedingly cold and barely escaped a 

 severe cramp by jumping quickly into 

 the boat. After resuming our gar- 

 ments we continued to pole along to- 

 wards Grant's Farm and Scott's Park, 

 and proceeded to get outside of a sub- 

 stantial dinner, of which the following 

 is the, 



MENU. 



— o — 



Sonp. 

 Cold Water. 



Meats. 

 Cold Corned Beef. 



Bread. 

 Brown Bread. 



Entrees. 

 Cranberry Jam. 



Drinks. 



Hot Coffee. 

 Cold Water. 



After dinner we pulled up anchor 

 and sailed over to Grant's farm. This 

 island is a low, swampy tract of land 

 containing about ten acres. There is 



a sort of levee, about two feet high, 

 running around it, about four feet in 

 width ; within this levee, the water 

 stands anywhere from six to fifteen 

 inches in depth. 1 tramped to the 

 western side of the island, but saw 

 nothing. We now hoisted sail and 

 started for. Mr. Craft's clearing, about 

 three miles north of us, but as the 

 wind was very slight and every mo- 

 ment growing slighter, our chances of 

 reaching there before dark were very 

 small. After sailing and poling for 

 nearly an hour, we suddenly came in 

 sight of a snag upon which were three 

 Royal Terns, roosting for the night (it 

 now being quite near sundown), I 

 grabbed my gnu, took a hasty aim and 

 pulled the trigger. As the smoke 

 cleared away I was disgusted to see- 

 the Terns all sailing away. I had 

 fired both barrels at them and had 

 missed both times. We continued up 

 along the river, eating our supper on 

 the way. In washing my hands I 

 started the phosphorescence (Protoz- 

 val) in the water. It was a pretty 

 siglit to see, as we dipped our hands 

 in the water, for at each ripple there 

 appeared millions of little points of 

 light darting here and there. We con- 

 tinued poling until darkness had fair- 

 ly set in, when we. went ashore and 

 anchored in the lee of a long sandy 

 point. We now made preparations 

 for turning in ; we spread the sail over 

 the body of the boat, spread our blan- 

 kets on the bottom, crawled under this 

 ready-made cabin> and were soon in 

 the land of dreams. 

 January 21st, 1890. 



A PLAIN TALK. 

 There is in Ornithology, the same as 

 in any other pursuit, two ways of do- 

 ing it. The first, and I regret to state, 

 the one least followed, is to secure two 

 or three specimens and devote your 

 attention to them exclusively, until 

 you have posted yourself thoroughly, 

 and then turn your attention to others. 

 The other method, which is so widely 

 pursued both by the older Ornitholo- 

 gist, as well as by the boy just in his 

 teens, is to shoot indiscriminately 

 every bird that comes within range of 

 his gun and dispose of the extra speci- 

 mens, which usually outnumber those 

 wanted, by four to one, to some dealer 

 or millinery establishment, for a cash 

 consideration. It is due, almost en- 

 tirely to the latter that so many of our 



