THE OOLOGIST 



161 



an alder, I found a neat nest of dried 

 grasses, lined with a few hairs, placed 

 three feet up and containing three 

 pinkish-white eggs spotted around the 

 larger end with black. On account of 

 the size of the eggs and the situation 

 of the nest, my first thought was that 

 I had found a nest of the Alder Fly- 

 catcher, but as there was no bird in 

 sight we decided to come back later. 



Half a mile further on we came to 

 the open swamp and soon heard the 

 song of the Marsh Wrens out in the 

 tall cattails, a rail scurried also at my 

 feet and soon I saw a fine male Sora. 

 The female was chattering in the 

 reeds but it took me some time to 

 find the nest, hidden under a busn. 

 To my disappointment it only held 

 one "pipped" egg. Not far from here 

 1 came across a Long-billed MarsVi 

 Wren's globular house with a nice 

 set of five slightly incubated eggs. 

 The usual full set of Wren's eggs 

 around here seems to be four or five, 

 rarely six, though most authors give 

 from five to nine in a clutch. We 

 found several dummy nests and my 

 friend saw 2 freshly lined nests, ap- 

 parently ready for eggs, and I found a 

 nest containing five heavily incubat- 

 ed ones. 



We then entered the woods and sat 

 down near a Crow's nest with two al- 

 most fiedged young, but, in spite of 

 the fact that we waited some time, 

 neither of the old birds put in an ap- 

 pearance. On the way back through 

 the swamp we found two Swamp 

 Sparrow's nest, one held four incubat- 

 ed eggs and the other the same num.- 

 ber of young birds. 



When we came to the nest which 

 we had failed to identify my com- 

 panion went ahead with the glasses 

 and saw the female fly from the nest 

 and light on a nearby bush; it was 

 unmistakably a Maryland Yellow- 

 throat. This is the first time I have 



ever heard of this bird nesting so high 

 up. 



By now it was beginning to get 

 pretty late so we headed for the Ford, 

 well satisfied with the day's work. 

 I. D. Campbell. 

 Bernardsville, N. J. 



The Passing of the Passenger Pigeon 



(Ectopistes Migratorious) 

 There was a time when the Passen- 

 ger Pigeon was the most common 

 bird in this country; they were so 

 plentiful that would would darken the 

 sky during their migration and would 

 often pass over in unbroken ranks for 

 days. This condition existed as late 

 as the middle of the nineteenth cen- 

 tury and during the memory of many 

 of our older inhabitants. 



During the Civil War when meat 

 was so scarce in the Southern army 

 this bird was one of their principal 

 foods. Late in the evenings the com- 

 manding general would detail a whole 

 company of soldiers to get "meat" for 

 the next days rations. This company 

 would send out "spotters" to locate 

 the roosts which were always in low 

 thickets of trees usually pines. After 

 dark the soldiers armed with sticks 

 and clubs would go to these roosts, 

 which would often cover acres, and 

 would beat the bushes furiously with 

 the sticks until they were worn out 

 and until all the birds had been killed 

 or had flown away. Then they would 

 bring wagons to haul off their "kill" 

 which would often be many hundreds 

 of pounds and would take several 

 wagons to haul them to camp. This 

 is probably the main cause for their 

 rapid decrease but the "Pigeon Traps" 

 also played their part. 



This seems impossible when in 1914 

 there was only one of these birds liv- 

 ing. A $1,000.00 reward was offered 

 to anybody who would find this 

 female a mate, but non^e was found. 



