46 



THE OOLOGIST 



O 



think I would still be washing. I 

 hope this will be of some use to some 

 one. R. Graham. 



Forth Worth, Texas. 



« ♦ » 



EARLY NOTES. 



Edgar M. Parker of Montgomery 

 City, Missouri, reports the following 

 early arrivals: 



January 25th, Mockingbird. 



January 28th, Kingfisher. 



February 15th, Robin. 



February 16th, Bluebird. 



A Robin was seen here on January 



11, 1917, which is very unusual in 



this locality. 



C. F. Pahrman. 

 -.- — .-^ — « ♦ « 



DELOS HATCH. 



Delos Hatch, one of the oldest and 

 best known Oologists and Ornitholo- 

 gists of Wisconsin, is the subject of 

 this sketch. Settling as he did a great 

 many years ago on the edge of a great 

 Horrican Marsh he enjoyed exception- 

 al opportunities for familiarizing him- 

 self with the life histories of the win- 

 ter birds. 



This vast expanse of semi-sub- 

 merged territory was in the earlier 

 day one of the best known wild fowl 

 resorts in all North America; Swans, 

 ducks, geese, grebes, herons, rails, 

 phalaropes and many waders visited 

 its depths and shores annually. Sports- 

 men from almost all parts of the 

 United States made pilgrimages to 

 help harvest its annual crop of birds. 



Mr. Hatch has spent many years of 

 his life roaming through this vast 

 morass and collected thousands of spe- 

 cimens. His data is being found in 

 practically all the collections in the 

 United States. A large number of 

 specimens rest in our cabinet and 

 when you cee the name of Delos Hatch 

 signed a^ certifying, to certain facts 

 on data, you may rest assured that 

 said facts are truly and correctly re- 

 ported. 



He became familiar with many rare- 

 ties as the result of this exceptional 

 opportunity which he enjoyed and ul- 

 timately constructed a small museum 

 of his own. 



Mr. Hatch sends us photographs we 

 publish in this issue with the state- 

 ment that he has not been at the 

 marsh for about ten years. We opine 

 that v/hen he makes a visit, which 

 he proposes to do this summer, he will 

 be pained and surprised at the change. 



He is a collector known practically 

 throughout the world, a taxidermist of 

 high degree and at one time his mu- 

 seum contained upwards of a thous- 

 and mounted birds, great numbers of 

 eggs, insects, shells and general 

 curios. 



KILL THE CATS. 

 Cats Ruthless Destroyers of Birds. 



That cats are a menace to the na- 

 tion's birds has been proved so many 

 times over by ornithologists that the 

 bill to license these animals should 

 have great weight with legislators, 

 says a press reporter of Albany, N. Y. 

 What sportsmen hope to do is to 

 license the domestic cat and by that 

 means kill off the rovers, the "bar- 

 rel" cats and those that hunt birds. 

 Those interested feel that no one will 

 object to a 25-cent license as a means 

 of protection. 



C. H. Wilson, who has taken up the 

 fight against the cat inaugurated by 

 the New York State Forest, Fish and 

 Game League, says: "There can be 

 no argument that the cat, next to man, 

 is the greatest enemy to bird life. To 

 give emphasis to all that has been 

 caid touching the question of the pro- 

 tection of birds from cats, here is an 

 analysis made of Dr. Forbush's re- 

 port, which comprises 1,268 individual 

 reports, naming 107 species of birds 

 killed by cats. A few of the most im- 

 portant species are as follows: 



Bluebird, 75; Robin, 272; Thrush, 



