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THE OOLOGIST ^M^^^ » V^^7 



White-eyed Towliee, Parula Warbler 

 and Southern Downy Woodpecker. As 

 it was getting late, I made my wsly 

 back to camp, lighted the fire, made 

 coffee, fried some bacon (which is 

 always good on such a trip), ate 

 supper, filled my old Calabash, sat out 

 on the edge of the woods and felt at 

 peace with all the world. Soon grow- 

 ing drowsy, I mads up my bed; my 

 satchel for a pillow; some fans from 

 the Palmetto for my bed, covered with 

 the sky, dotted with thousands of 

 stars, and was soon in slumberland. 

 Some time during the night I was 

 aroused from my sleep; the moon was 

 up in all its glory, and looking sea- 

 ward as far as the eye could reach, 

 the water was one sheet of silvery 

 moonlight. Overhead the ChucK- 

 Wills-Widow were calling to one 

 another in their melancholy way, try- 

 ing all the time to keep time with the 

 surf as it rolled in on the beach. T 

 listened some time to the masic and 

 dropped off to sleep, and did not 

 awaken again until good day-light. 

 After a hearty breakfast, 1 made my 

 way to the beach where I found a few 

 Wilson's Plover eggs. In a small slip 

 of marsh, I found a small colony of 

 Boat-tailed Crackle; a set of Wayne's 

 Clapper Rail; two sets of Warthing- 

 ton's Marsh Wren and a few sets of 

 Red-winged Blackbird. 



As there was nothing else of in- 

 terest, I started back through the grass 

 and flushed a Willete off four eggs, 

 and after hunting through the woods, 

 I made my way back to camp, well 

 pleased with my day and night on 

 Buck Hummock. 



This same place back in the '80's 

 and as late as 1890, was a great breed- 

 ing ground of the Least Tern, but 

 alas, they have all gone from their 

 old haunts, and I have never been able 

 to locate them again, and the mem- 

 ories of the old days and a few sets 

 of their eggs, are all that is left. 



SPOTTED BLUE GROSBEAK'S 

 EGGS. 



Although I have examined a large 

 number of the nests and eggs of this 

 species during the past six years I 

 have found only one nest that con- 

 tained spotted eggs. Usually the eggs 

 are a pale light blue resembling some 

 what those of the Bluebird, but in a 

 nest I found July 20th, 1912, one of 

 the eggs is distinctly spotted with 

 small brown dots about the size of a 

 pin point. The other two eggs are 

 pale blue unspotted. The nest was on 

 a horizontal limb of a peach tree well 

 hidden. As usual with these species 

 the nest is very compact, built and 

 had a piece of snake's skin conspicu- 

 cusly woven into the side of the nest. 

 The birds are very timid and if their 

 nest is found before the eggs are de- 

 posited, or before it is entirely 

 finished, it is straight way deserted. 

 Usually the nest is in a fork of a 

 small sprout in the midst of a bunch 

 of bushes. Often the nest is placed 

 in a peach tree if well concealed. 



After consulting my bird books, I 

 find no report of the eggs occasional- 

 ly speckled and would like to inquire 

 if other collectors find this as rare as 

 I have. 

 Decatur, Ark. William Plank. 



THE DISAPPEARANCE OF WILD 

 LIFE. 



One of the best papers that we have 

 seen on this subject is by H. P. At- 

 water of Houston, Texas, and pub- 

 lished in Volume I No. 3 of the Bul- 

 letin of the Scientific Society of San 

 Antonio. It is a splendidly prepared 

 contribution on this subject covering 

 fourteen closely printed pages, and 

 were it possible, we would like to re- 

 produce it in The Oologist, but space 

 prohibits, 



