THE OOLOGIST 



215 



Fig. 2. Nest and eggs of Passerella i 



megarhyncha. 

 Fig. 3. Nest and eggs of Phainopepla 



nitens. 

 Fig. 4. Nest and eggs of Pouioptila 



plumbea. 



Woodpeckers 



Few, if any of our native birds, are 

 more easily identified than tlie wood- 

 peckers, and when one lias had a little 

 experience with them they are readily 

 recognized by their notes as well as 

 by sight. With few exceptions, they 

 are non-migratory and being found on 

 the same range throughout the year, 

 they are an important family to the 

 field student, being highly insectiver- 

 ous. They are still more important 

 as destroyers of noxious insects, es- 

 pecially wood borers. But the ma- 

 jority of people do not appreciate 

 their services. The average boy with 

 a rifle had rather kill a woodpecker 

 than shoot at a target for a week. It 

 is a great pity that the economic value 

 of these birds is not better under- 

 stood. 



The following is a list of the species 

 which occur near Bardstown, Nelson 

 County, Kentucky. 



A. O. U. 393, Harry Woodpecker. A 

 fairly common resident, generally a 

 birl of the woods but in winter fre- 

 quents the open. 



A. O. U. 394C, Northern Downy 

 Woodpecker. A common resident 

 more noticeable in the winter. 



A. O. U. 402. Yellow-bellied Sap- 

 sucker. A common transient general- 

 ly wintering in small numbers. Ar- 

 rives from the north in September and 

 departs in April. 



A. O. U. 406. Red-head Woodpeck- 

 er. A common summer resident 

 Sometimes winters. Beckham in his 

 "Birds of Nelson County" gave this 

 species as a permanent resident, for 

 nearly six years I have not seen one 



from October to April. 



A. O. U. 412A. Northern Flicker. A 

 very common resident. Very numer- 

 ous during migrations. All of the 

 above mentioned species have been 

 observed here by C. W. Beckham and 

 recorded in his "Birds of Nelson Coun- 

 ty," published in 1885 by the Ken- 

 tucky Geological Survey. 



The Pileated Woodpecker was noted 

 by Beckham as being an uncommon 

 permanent resident in heavily wood- 

 ed portions of the county. I have 

 never seen this bird here but perhaps 

 it is still to be found in the Knobs in 

 western and southern Nelson Countj^ 

 Ben J. Blincoe. 



Bardtown, Ky. 



From Cape Town, Africa. 



There is a very interesting bird here 

 of the Shrike species (Lanuarius Gut- 

 turalis) known to the Dutch as the 

 "Bakmakiri" or ("Bobmakiri" as they 

 generally call it.) It is a fine bird of 

 a dark and light green color. It ap- 

 pears perpetually to remain with its 

 mate all the year round and some- 

 times they are seen in threes and they 

 always call in ducks, the notes uttered 

 by one being instantly answered by 

 another (which is about ten yards 

 off) ; the reply comes the very second 

 the initial call ceases and is as regular 

 as clock-work and is always the same 

 call by each bird while that particu- 

 lar duck is in process, but the ducks 

 are hardly all the same. 



They are all frightfully timid birds 

 and are off the moment one shows up. 

 I wonder why it is that in a country 

 of ostrich eggs like this one, that they 

 all always blow so execrably. I had 

 often seen the eggs in England and 

 also in India for sale in Curio Shops 

 and always with these ungainly holes 

 and here it is just the same (some- 

 times one hole, but generally one at 

 each end) and averaging one-half inch. 



