68 



THE OOLOGIST 



watching a Vermillion Flycatcher do 

 a stunt or so, that a strange bird came 

 into my vision. But remembering 

 some skins I had seen in the past, I 

 quickly recognized the Texas Cardi- 

 nal, and a male. In about a minute 

 he was joined by Mrs. and soon after 

 they left. 



It was the next day that, when climb- 

 ing a small hill, I grasped a limb of a 

 small mesquite, immediately there 

 was a brilliant flash and a Cardinal 

 alighted on a tree about one hundred 

 feet away. It might have been my 

 friend of the day before, for she had 

 a nice family of three, which I judged 

 were about eight or ten days old, right 

 in the mesquite, and only about ten 

 inches above where I had first laid 

 my hand. 



The other came rapidly, the Texas 

 Sparrow, Texas Kingfisher, which 1 

 observed at both Lajitas, and Boquil- 

 las. A Texas barred Owl was killed 

 by a fellow at Hot Wells; and I firmly 

 believe that I observed a Texas Night- 

 hawk at the same place. But the 

 Meadowlark remains neutral, as yet 

 I have found none that carry the 

 handle of Texas. 



"A RATHER LATE NESTING DATE" 



In spite of the warm weather, when 

 we arrived upon the border on June 

 1st, nearly all the birds had completed 

 nesting. In fact 98% of all the 

 "current" nests had been raised in, 

 and the few sets that we found, were 

 in most cases very badly incubated. 

 This was all very surprising to me, 

 as I had expected an almost constant 

 season. It may be that the birds had 

 gotten the spirit from the Mexicans, 

 and did not work any more than they 

 could help, of course making great 

 promises for the next year. 



But it was at Lajitas, a purely 

 Mexican town, right on the banks of 

 the Rio Grande, that I had the pleasure 

 Qt obtaining a real "late" set. 



The First Sergeant took the Com- 

 pany on a "hike" or a "tactical walk," 

 as some would say. The First Ser- 

 geant, being in charge instead of an 

 officer, of course things were less for- 

 mal and stiff, so I made the best of 

 opportunity, and was snapping every- 

 thing in sight with my hand camera. 



Coming upon an extra large Sotol 

 plant, I had the company line up in 

 both sides of it. Naturally, as it was 

 a pose, the First Sergeant, as became 

 his dignity, stood beside the plant. As 

 naturally became him, he being a 

 "bird boy," he lifted the leaves around 

 in true egg-hunting fashion. Suddenly 

 he shouted out, "Come here. Mack, 

 darned if there aint some shapperals." 

 And he drew his arm out as if he was 

 bringing out a snake, but instead he 

 had four as pretty eggs of the Road 

 Runner as ever were collected. I took 

 the picture and still hold it as evidence 

 that four nearly fresh eggs of Geo- 

 coccyx californianus, were collected 

 about one fourth mile from Lajitas, 

 Texas, on October the tenth, A. D., 

 1916. 



I traded the Top two bachelor 

 buttons for the set and after carefully 

 blowing them with a shingle nail and 

 a syringe, mailed them home in a 

 cigar can and oatmeal. 



If any of you fellows don't think 

 that this is late, I'm willing to argue 

 it over. 



"'A EGGING' ON THE BORDER." 



Of course one of the first things 

 that came to my mind as the train 

 pulled into Hot Wells, Texas, the train 

 that bore a hundred as action eager 

 soldiers as e'er reached the border, 

 was the eternal question, "I wonder 

 what kind of hunting and birds there 

 are here." And after the "long" bore- 

 some stay of twenty days at the Mus- 

 tering Camp at Fort Sam Houston, 

 Texas, we had at last reached the 



