THE OOLOGIST 



157 



A question, how late do Field Spar- 

 rows nest? 



Some people were picking cotton in 

 front of my house Sept. 29th, 1922, 

 when they found a nest with two eggs 

 in it. They sent me word, and when 

 I got there I flushed a Field Sparrow, 

 thinking she would lay two more eggs. 

 I waited three days longer and went to 

 find the two eggs broken wtih ants on 

 them. This is the latest I ever saw 

 a Field Sparrow nesting. The nest 

 was two inches above ground. 



I took eleven sets of Carolina Chick- 

 adee this year, from n-3 to n-7. I 

 took one set of n-5 Crested Flycatcher 

 in a box 1 made and set on garden 

 post, then she nested twenty steps in 

 a hole in silver leaf poplar, where I 

 had taken a set of Titmouse. 



G. E. Pilquist, 

 Dardanelle, Arkansas. 



only winter in which Blackbirds and 

 Grackles ever wintered in this lo- 

 cality. 



J. D. Black, 

 Winslow, Ark. 

 Surely some flight. — R. M. B. 



THE FALL MIGRATION OF 1920 



The fall migration of 1920 was an 

 unusual one for this locality. Win- 

 slow, being in the center of a small 

 range of mountains and the highest 

 point in the range seldom is in the 

 path of the fall migrants. But the 

 fall of 1920 was an exception to the 

 rule, it being the largest ever known, 

 even among the oldest settlers. 



It was late in the season and as yet 

 nothing unusual had occurred, but up- 

 on rising one morning I noticed that 

 the sky was literally black with birds; 

 all Blackbirds. North, south, east or 

 west nothing could be seen but birds. 

 There were layers and layers of them 

 as close together as they could fly. 

 This continued for four days and 

 nights, but by noon the fifth day they 

 had thinned out a bit. 



For the next week flocks of Black- 

 birds were continually in sight among 

 which were mixed Geese, Brants, 

 Ducks, and several species of Hawks. 



The winter of 1920-21 was also the 



FLIGHT OF BIRDS 



Since the coming of the automobile 

 there have been many tests made of 

 the flight powers of birds, and many 

 supposed speeds contradicted. 



Since moving to Florida, I have had 

 numerous chances to test the flight of 

 various birds while driving my high 

 powered machine over long smooth 

 oiled roads, often stretching before 

 me ten to twenty miles or more. In 

 most cases I have been disappointed 

 and surprised, at the slow rate of 

 flight of the birds when hard pressed, 

 and when I know they have exerted 

 every effort to out-distance the ma- 

 chine. 



Mocking Birds, Jays, Cardinals, and 

 Loggerhead Shrikes cannot attain the 

 speed of fifteen miles an hour. Our 

 Ground Doves' best speed seems to be 

 twenty miles, while Mourning Doves, 

 Bob White and Sparrow Hawks aver- 

 age about twenty-two miles per hour. 



While motoring along the canal 

 banks, I found that Herons flew 

 around twelve miles, while the Sand- 

 pipers attained the speed of twenty. 



Meadowlarks, Blackbirds, and many 

 of the small birds cannot, at their 

 best, attain the speed of fifteen miles 

 per hour. 



As a whole I have been greatly dis- 

 appointed in the speed of all birds 

 that I have "paced," and I am in- 

 clined to disbelieve the wonderful 

 stories that have been told in the 

 past, of the rapid flight of birds in 

 general. 



Harold H. Bailey, 

 Miami Beach, Fla. 



Oct. 15, 1922. 



