THB OOLOOIST 



123 



evidence and they never returned. 

 These Towhees are most devoted par- 

 ents, resembling the Catbird in their 

 piteous protests against any molest- 

 ing of their treasures. Early and late 

 they scratch under the dead leaves or 

 in the rich garden soil for insects, or 

 pick up scattered grain in the barn- 

 yard, or crumbs at the door. 



The nest is bulky, made of twigs, 

 bark, and grass; lined with rootlets. 

 Eggs three or four; bluish, marked 

 with various shades of dark and light 

 purple and black. 



W. A. Strong, 

 San Jose, Cal. 



A Letter 



The following excerpts from a let- 

 ter received from Captain F. B. East- 

 man, now located at Fort Leaven- 

 worth, Kansas, and a most enthusiast- 

 ic bird man, of unusually wide field 

 experience, will be read with interest, 

 we are sure. 



"Shortly after I last wrote you from 

 San Antonio, I was sent to the Rio 

 Grande Valley. At that time of the 

 year (June 15, 1916) it was exceeding 

 hot and the country a vast desert, ex- 

 cept for the stunted mesquite; that 

 is, in the vicinity of my station, Eagle 

 Pass. For several months our rela- 

 tions were very strained with the Mex- 

 icans, and all our spare moments were 

 spent assisting the Militia organiza- 

 tions, etc. 



Later in the fall, I was able to take 

 an afternoon off occasionally to hunt 

 or fish, and I found the country was 

 not quite so devoid of interest as it 

 at first appeared. All the land seemed 

 to belong to one of several ranches. 

 One of these had forty miles of river 

 front, and another was said to con- 

 tain 145,000 acres. In going to the 

 first we traveled by fairly good road 

 23 miles without seeing a single habi- 

 tation till we came to the home of 



the superintendent. Here we found a 

 large country residence, fine barns 

 and about a dozen outbuildings. The 

 trip to the second was just the same, 

 only in a different direction, but about 

 the same distance from my camp. 

 They raise only live stock which feed 

 on the mesquite and cactus. Scattered 

 over these ranches are very attractive 

 watering places called "Tanks," where 

 the water is collected and dammed up 

 for the cattle. 



Some of these cover several hun- 

 dred acres and are from ten to twenty 

 feet deep and stocked with bass. In 

 the fall and winter they are full of 

 ducks, snipe and curlew. The most 

 common were Gadwall, Pintail, Mal- 

 lard, Greenwing Teal, Canvasback 

 Shoveller, Widgeon, Scaup and Ruddy. 

 Where they were not molested, they 

 were very tame. The surrounding 

 country was full of rattle-snakes, road- 

 runners, quail and doves, and rabbits. 

 All these made nice food for birds of 

 prey. 



I was just getting a line on those 

 when ordered away. Caracara, Rough- 

 legged and Goshawk were common 

 everywhere; also some smaller ones 

 that I did not know, and some Horned 

 Owls. 



On the ranch last mentioned, soine 

 twenty-five miles east of my camp 

 there were a great number of Hawks' 

 nests in trees from 10 to 30 feet from 

 the ground. They were about the size 

 of the average Red-tail's, or perha.ps 

 a little larger. In one place I counted 

 sixteen from a three mile stretch of 

 road between two tanks, and enough 

 hawks and owls in the same area to 

 occupy every one of them. I had three 

 privately owned motorcycles in my 

 company and intended to make some 

 raids on them when they commenced 

 to breed. One nest not far from camp 

 was occupied by a pair of Owls about 



