154 



THE OOLOGIST 



A Crested Flycatcher is screaming 

 his challenges. A Cardinal is whis- 

 tling his "Whoit, whoit, whoit" and a 

 Wood Pewee sounding his mournful 

 lays. These three "Back-woodsers" 

 are nesting in the village and a re- 

 view of my boyhood days does not re- 

 call a single instance when either of 

 the three ever more than passed 

 through the village during nesting sea- 

 son. 



A'erily times are changing for the 

 bird lover. The forests are being de- 

 stroyed and new homes must be found 

 in the tree lined streets of the vil- 

 lages and larger towns. 



May 29th — Mowing the grass in the 

 village cemetery revealed a Prairie 

 Hen nest with a complement of eight 

 eggs. 



May 28th— Two miles north of Philo 

 I saw a Prairie Hen's nest into which 

 the prolific female had deposited 19 

 eggs — quite.the largest set I have ever 

 noted. The nest was along roadside 

 within eight feet of passing autos. 



Same date — An Upland Plover was 

 covering four eggs only five feet from 

 passing vehicles along a country road. 

 May 10 — A Meadowlark discovered 

 in a plowed field with nest and five 

 eggs. It was a strange sight. Not a 

 spear of grass or weed near but nest 

 sheltered under a furrow. First exper- 

 ience of this nature. 



June 10th — A pair of Orchard Ori- 

 oles have completed a nest in a small 

 ash tree at side of Bank building only 

 50 feet from main street. The sapling 

 stands directly over a Gasoline serv- 

 ing station with the exhaust from a 

 dynamo engine popping off only thirty 

 feet away. 



Guy Day of our neighboring village 

 of Sidney, showed me nest of Chipping 

 Sparrow. Quite a find. The last one 

 I saw was in 1896. Why is it no one 

 has seemed to note the scarcity of this 

 bird? Or is central Illinois the only 



vicinity deserted by Spizella socialis? 

 On Sunday, June 4th, I located the 

 nest of a Coot. When first found it 

 contained 4 eggs. If I could have col- 

 lected the full set it would have made 

 No. 95 in my collection of nests and 

 eggs in my ten-mile radius. Coot adds 

 another name, however, to my list of 

 birds found nesting in my circle, mak- 

 ing number 109. The set, I missed, for 

 continued rains washed away all 

 traces of the nesting site. 



Isaac E. Hess. 

 Philo, Ills. 



MARRIED 



Announcement is received from 

 Capt. John William Carey of the mar- 

 riage of his daughter, Florence Lil- 

 lian, to Paul G. Howes, at Brooklyn. 

 New ^'ork. Monday, June istn, 1917. 



Mr. Howes is one of the best 

 friends the Oologist ever had and we 

 are pleased to know that he is now a 

 full fledged benedict. 



Mr. and Mrs. Howes will be at 

 home to their friends at 91 Hope 

 Street, Stamford,. Connecticut. We 

 congratulate Mr. Howes upon joining 

 the branch of the benedicts and cer- 

 tainly congratulate his wife on hav- 

 ing secured one of the best fellows 

 for a husband that we have ever met. 



Please 



During 1917 whenever you write to 

 The Oologist on business. Try and 

 enclose a short bird note, no matter 

 how short, if only a line or referring 

 to some interesting thing you have 

 noticed in Birddom. It will help make 

 a better Oologist. 



TO 

 ORDER 



TAXIDERMIST WOR 



M. J. HOFMANN 

 1818 Bleecker St., BROOKLYN, N. Y. 

 Birds, Animals. Game-heads, RuJ Work 



