110 



THE OOLOGIST 



long. These birds were observed in 

 the front and back yard of Mr. Wil- 

 son's West End home and to my sur- 

 prise they were not a bit wild and 

 would come to such a thickly settled 

 neighborhood, happily feeding un- 

 molested in the back and front yard. 

 Ramon Graham. 

 Texas Notes, 1920. 



GLOSSY IBIS OBSERVED AND 

 KILLED NEAR FT. WORTH, TEXAS 



After several years of migratorj- ob 

 servations we have never had on our 

 list the Glossy Ibis. 



Sept. 13, 1921, a man brought tc our 

 Taxidermy shop a Glossy Ibis to be 

 mounted. The man was hunting doves 

 and waiting for them to come for 

 water around a lake. He at once 

 noticed a flock of about fifteen birds 

 flying down near him. They never 

 paid any attention to him and went to 

 feeding around the lake. They acted 

 like they wtre almost starved. He 

 noticed that they were a strange look- 

 ing bird and to ease his curiosity he 

 shot into them with the intention of 

 killing one, but instead he killed five. 



He asked several people if they 

 could tell him what kind of birds they 

 were, but no one knew. 



He then brought one home and in 

 quired of several neighbors, but thev 

 did not know. He carried it to work 

 with him, and asked the opinion ot 

 several hunters there, but to no satis- 

 faction He then met a friend who 

 told him of us. He brought it here 

 for us to identify. This is the first 

 bird of the Ibis family we have ever 

 heard of being killed m this locality. 

 Mrs. Ramon Graham, 

 Polytechnic, Ft. Worth, Texas. 

 1921 Bird Notes. 



Our copy box is about empty. Get 

 busy at once. This means you, reader! 



Editor. 



COURTING BIRDS 



Naturalists attribute the most beauti- 

 ful bird songs to the effort of the male 

 to win the affections of the female, as 

 Darwin years ago attributed the more 

 brilliant plumage of most male birds to 

 the same design of Nature. Recent 

 observers have collected many in- 

 stances of birds that add terpsichorean 

 efforts to their vocal and decorative at- 

 tractions, to the same end. The state- 

 ly Crane at wooing time hops about in 

 droll postures, raising and lowering 

 its wings and sometimes picking up 

 twigs with his bill and throwing them 

 over his shoulder in graceful gestures, 

 as if to invite the female to join him 

 in building a' nest. The Ostrich whirls 

 in a quick waltz, so rapid as to make 

 the observer dizzy in following his 

 gyrations with the eye. The black 

 cock or moor cock of the Bavaiian 

 forests spreads his wings and his lyre- 

 ohaped tail and jumps about in circles 

 with his head close to the ground. 

 Golden phea'sants executes a dance 

 described as a stately minute. 



Oriental birds are often even more 

 elaborate in their courting dances. 

 The mirror peacock of Borneo and the 

 Sumatran pheasant clears a space in 

 the woods, several feet square, as a 

 dancing fioor, and keep the space 

 clear of all leaves and twigs through- 

 out the period of courtship The 

 bower bird, a variety of the paradise 

 bird of New Guinea and Australia, 

 builds a roof-like dancing bower of 

 twigs with a'n opening on each side. 

 The walls are decorated with parrot 

 feathers, red berries and moss and 

 with bright little flowers, which it re- 

 places with fresh ones when they 

 wither, according to a veracious 

 naturalist. In front of this pavilion he 

 places an attractive pile of mussle 

 ■shells, glittering pebbles and bleached 

 bones. Standing before this bower. 



