98 



THE OOLOQIST 



plumage with the vegetation. Spar-jp 

 row hawks were numerous as were f1 

 also anis, flycatchers, grass quits, pel- 

 icans, doves and vultures. 



January 18th. Arrived for a short 

 stop at Cartahena at 5 p. m. The en- 

 trance to the harbor is very narrow 

 and the country very dry and barren 

 compared to the other places visited. 

 At the entrance to the harbor stands 

 an old fort dating back to the days of 

 the Spanish occupation. There is also 

 a large leper colony close by. The 

 town of Cartahena is a wonderfully 

 interesting old place, reminding one of 

 certain parts of Italy. The houses are 

 low and attractive in architecture 

 clumped together in a maze of little 

 cobbled streets. We drove about the 

 town that evening visiting the "joints" 

 much to the amusement of the natives. 

 No birds of interest were noted as we 

 left early in the morning for Puerto 

 Colombia, our destination, from 

 whence we were to start our journey 

 into the heart of the Andes. 

 (To be continued 



Massachusetts Fall Migration 

 The largest flock of Canada Geese 

 that I have observed for years passed 

 over Taunton, Mass., December 2, 

 1916. It surely contained over 100 in- 

 dividuals. As I was going to a train 

 I could not stop to make a count as I 

 would like to have done. Flock was in 

 three parts when seen and these parts 

 came together while in view, making 

 one large V. Possibly it was the con- 

 solidation of three flocks. In the past 

 I have seldom seen over 25 in a flock 

 and as a Tule less than 25. The mem- 

 bers of this large flock were honking 

 more or less and were flying south- 

 west at a safe height, probably 800 

 feet. 



Ducks and Geese have probably in- 

 creased owing to the protection they 

 now enjoy. I recently made a trip to 



ithe tip of Cape Cod. I noticed that 

 unusually large flocks of Ducks and 

 Mergansers were common. While on 

 this trip I saw large numbers of 

 Meadowlarks and some made up flocks 

 of from 20 to 50. I estimated that I 

 observed about 350 individuals. A 

 flock of eight Cowbirds were observed 

 near Truro, Mass., Nov. 25, 1916. 

 These birds seem to stay around here 

 during the winter late years. I have 

 seen several flocks during the win- 

 ter, and they were reported at Digh- 

 ton, Mass., last winter. Some of 

 them came to a feed stand there 

 regularly. To make sure that they 

 were not Starlings I had a pair col- 

 lected for me and they are now in my 

 collection. 



C. L. Phillips, 

 Taunton, Mass. 



An Apartment Post 

 Early last spring while building 

 fence, I found an old cottonwood pest 

 that had rotted off and fallen down. 

 I found that it contained several ex- 

 cavations. One was where a blue-bird 

 had built for several seasons. Not 

 having a set of blue-bird eggs in my 

 collection I had figured on collecting 

 a set here. So I took the post and re- 

 set it in the fence. On returning a 

 few days later I was surprised to find 

 a chickadee building a nest in one of 

 the excavations down near the ground. 

 A few days later when I passed it I 

 stopped to watch for some signs of 

 the home builder and this time I saw 

 a flicker poke her head out of an ex- 

 cavation in the same post only up near 

 the top, and then I was pleased to see 

 the chickadee coming from the creek 

 to her home. But my greatest pleas- 

 ure was when I again viewed the post 

 and its occupants to flnd that my 

 friends, Mr. and Mrs. Blue-bird, had 

 returned to their home in the post. 

 And their ownership being disputed 



