96 



THE OOLOGIST 



THE GEESE AND THE EAGLE 



Geese are not always silly, coward- 

 ly creatures, as is illustrated by the 

 following incident: 



A man in Sierra County, California, 

 was on his way to a neighbor's place 

 several miles from his own, when he 

 observed a large flock of geese coming 

 south. They were flying In the usual 

 V-shaped formation. 



While gazing at the geese the man 

 descried a' black eagle, an unusually 

 large one, coming from the east. It 

 was flying directly toward the geese, 

 although its course would carry it a 

 little below them The geese per- 

 ceived the eagle about the same time 

 that the man did. Before the bird had 

 arrived opposite them they gave decid- 

 ed signs of uneasiness. They began 

 to break up their regular formation, a 

 circumstance that caused the man to 

 regard the scene with increased curi- 

 osity. 



At once the geese formed two hollow 

 squares. The Eagle was now opposite 

 and : a little below the geese. One 

 square hung perpendicular in the air 

 with hardly a flutter of the wings. The 

 other hung as motionless, . but in an 

 oblique position. If the Eagle saw 

 them he gave no sign of attention, but 

 kept straight on his course. Then 

 just as he arrived directly underneath 

 the geese something happened. 



With a concerted movement the 

 geese that formed the lower or slant- 

 ing square swooped down in the di- 

 rection of the Eagle. The sudden rush 

 caused the big bird to turn out of his 

 course and to fly rapidly toward the 

 north. The gese then wheeled and 

 flew back, joining the birds that had 

 remained almost motionless in the per- 

 pendicular, hollow square. 



The two groups having joined the 

 V formation was resumed, and the 

 geese continued their flight toward the 

 south. 



As a rule, it is said, Eagles do not 

 attack geese. Besides, this Eagle was 

 hardly in a position to do so. His evi- 

 dent intention was to fly along on his 

 own business. The geese were the 

 ones who made the attack, if such it 

 could be called — The Advocate — W. A. 

 Strong, San Jose, Cal. 



GROUND NESTING OFTHE BROWN 

 THRASHER 



In the April Oologist Mr. A. D. Du- 

 Bois of Springfleld, Illinois, states that 

 he has found only one nest of the 

 Brown Thrasher on the ground in 

 many years of fleld observations; also 

 by way of comment our editor advises 

 that he has found but one nest in 

 forty-flve years on the ground. 



In my own experience I had not 

 judged ground nesting with this 

 species of such a rare occurrence, 

 though reference to my notes made at 

 Des Moines, Iowa, records but one in- 

 stance in each of three consecutive 

 years. These notes are as follows: 



May 27th, 1906: Nest well conceal- 

 ed on ground and surrounded by a 

 clump of tall weed stalks in a' field 

 near Waveland Park. Nest found by 

 flushing the bird. Eggs four. On a 

 visit to this same nest on June 7th 

 found young Thrashers in this nest. 



May 31, 1907: Nest on ground at 

 foot of some bushes along fence form- 

 ing part of elk pasture in Greenwood 

 Park. Nest found by flushing bird. 

 Eggs, three, full set. In this set the 

 small reddish brown specks usually 

 found sprinkled over the surface of 

 Brown Thrasher's eggs were so ar- 

 ranged as to form a ring about the 

 larger end of the eggs. 



May 21, 1908: Nest on ground in 

 some dead leaves which had gathered 

 under a few small dead limbs which 

 had fallen from a white oak, about 



