THE OOLOGIST 



188 



as if it enjoyed the weather whlcli 

 was tlie coldest of the winter up to 

 that time. It fed upon poison ivy vine 

 berries. 



Winter records of the Ruby-crowned 

 Kinglets are rare for the vicinity of 

 Philadelphia, nearly all the birds are 

 gone by the first week of November 

 and they are rarely seen after the 

 middle of this month. In the spring 

 they come from early in April to the 

 25th, the time of their arrival depend- 

 ing upon the weather. 



The Ruby-crowned Kinglet is rare- 

 ly seen after May 15 in the vicinity 

 of Philadelphia, hence I was astonished 

 to see one on June 2, 1917, at South 

 Sterling, Waynes County, Pa., in the 

 Pocono Mountains. It was also seen 

 by Thomas D. Burleigh and Albert D. 

 McGrew, my companions, who were 

 equally as surprised as myself to see 

 the bird at this season when it should 

 have been "at home" in New Bruns- 

 wick or some other part of Canada. 

 It was seen in a small cemetery in a 

 grove of white pines, and kept well 

 up in the trees. It assuredly was a 

 late immigrant. 



Richard F. Miller. 



About Bird Slaughter in the South. 



Having just perused in the August 

 Oologist the account of a lecture 

 given by G. O. Shields on the slaught- 

 er of birds, I cannot refrain from 

 making a reply to some of the state- 

 ments he has made. No doubt Col. 

 Shields is doing good work with his 

 lectures and it is to be hoped that he 

 will continue to labor in behalf of our 

 feathered friends. Twentyfive years 

 ago when I first subscribed to his 

 "Recreation" magazine, he was doing 

 good exposing work exposing "game 

 hogs" and it is remarkable to note 

 what ignorance he exhibits in regard 

 to conditions existing in the South to- 

 day. 



Mr. Shields makes the remarkable 



statement that strings of some birds 

 priced at 1 to 3 cents a dozen may be 

 found exhibited in the markets of all 

 our southern cities, and that society 

 women send their servants to buy 

 baskets of them to make pot pies. A 

 caluminous statement to say the 

 least, and one .in which there is no 

 truth. All of our southern states have 

 game laws and have Departments of 

 Fish and Game or Conservation Com- 

 missions to see that they are enforced. 

 It is not possible to buy or sell even 

 bob-whites in most of the Southern 

 states. 



There was a time, a good many 

 years ago, when Robins were killed 

 for pies and if the northern states 

 had had the influx of millions of these 

 fat plump birds, that we experience 

 all through February, no doubt there 

 would be as many guilty of killing 

 there as here. During February and 

 March the Robins are in Tennessee 

 in great abundance and there are im- 

 mense roosts about every twenty-five 

 miles. It is universally known here 

 throughout the country that killing 

 Robins is illegal and when a roost ir: 

 occasionally raided by irresponsible 

 people, it is done in the spirit in which 

 our darkeys raid the "White folks" 

 chicken roost. Publicity means 

 prosecution and the culprits demeanor 

 is quite opposite to that of the "boast- 

 ing nimrad" pictured by Mr. Shields. 



He states that the song birds from 

 bluebirds to meadowlarks are con- 

 sidered game south of the Ohio river 

 and infers the sportsmen shoat them 

 all with avidity. Such is not the case 

 and mature gunners shoot no birds 

 except duck, snipe, bob-white and 

 dove, unless it is an occasional bit- 

 tern, rail, hawk or large owl. Quite 

 true it is, the country over, that the 

 boy in his teens will fill his bag with 

 flickers, robins, and meadowlarks, if 

 he can hit the latter, and if the lark 

 tarried in our northern states during 



