122 



THE OOLOGIST 



Mr. Willet states that the Socorro 

 Petrel occasionally straggles north- 

 ward at least to San Diego. Mr. A. 

 W. Anthony found it to be fairly com- 

 mon during April and May, 1895. It 

 breeds on the island off the coast of 

 lower California from the Coronados 

 Islands south. Alfred Cookman. 



Western Meadowlark in Wisconsin. 



In the spring of 1910, I was in the 

 southern part of the state, Wisconsin, 

 in Rock county, (very appropriately 

 named.) It was here, I first heard the 

 Western Meadowlark in Wisconsin; 

 soon got to see them, but never found 

 a nest. Every spring since then, I 

 have noticed that they have been en- 

 croaching on the domains of the East- 

 ern Meadowlark, farther and farther 

 to the east and north. Well they are 

 welcome I am sure. They are in 

 about equal numbers here now, but I 

 have never yet succeeded in finding 

 a nest here of the Western variety. I 

 first heard the Western variety in 

 Minnesota in Wandena County in 1907 

 and again in Marin County, California, 

 where I finally found two nests in the 

 Alpine meadows of the Coast Range 

 in 1908. 



Geo. W. H. vos Burgh. 



A Recent Addition to Our Collection. 



The Editor has recently purchased 

 a large collection of mounted birds 

 lately belonging to Edward P. Car- 

 man of Portsmouth New Hampshire, 

 including therein such rare specimens 

 iU} Passenger Pigeon, Eskimo Curlew, 

 Snowy Owl, American Goshawk, etc. 

 Also beautiful albinos of the Barn 

 Swallow and Kingbird. 



The following is quoted from a let 

 ter of Mr. Carman under date of May 

 1st, closing up the deal: 



"Sure there are some honest white 

 men when it is such a hustle after 

 the dollars. I hope you have plenty 

 of them; surely you ought to have, 

 as a man so square as you have been 

 to me, I hope will never be in nep.d oi 

 them." 



Gone Forever. 



For about a week during April we 

 placed in the window of our law of- 

 fice the specimen referred to in the 

 following, accompanying it with this 

 explanatory statement: 



R. M. BARNES. 

 THE PASSENGER PIGEON, COM- 

 MONLY CALLED WILD PIGEON 

 (Ectopistes migratorius) 



This specimen of this rare and 

 now extinct bird was killed and 

 mounted near Brij^hton, Maine, in 

 the early '80's. The bird is now 

 totally extinct, the last survivor hav- 

 ing died in the Cincinnati Zoological 

 Gardens in confinement in the Fall of 

 1915. 



Formerly the Passenger Pigeon 

 was one of the most common birds in 

 all North America,, passing in its 

 migrations from North to South and 

 vice versa in fiocks containing mil- 

 lions, at times darkening the sky. 

 It formerly, in periods of migration, 

 was very common in this country. 

 The older resident have seen thou- 

 sands of the birds. 



At one time there were 1,500 trap- 

 ped birds shipped to Lacon and shot 

 at a live bird shooting match on the 

 river front west of the present water 

 works. But a few dozen eggs and a 

 few skins and mounted birds are all 

 that remain of this most splendid 

 game bird. As the result of perse- 

 cutions it has ceased to exist. It 

 was a martyr to the fool with the 

 shot gun. 



Oregon Birds. 



Our birds have had a hard time; 

 we have had a snow storm with cold 

 weather. Here is a list of birds that 

 I have observed from my window: 

 Oregon Junco, Varied Thrush, West- 

 ern Robin, Oregon Towhee, Rusty 

 Song Sparrow, Northwestern Flicker, 

 Red-breasted Sapsucker, Oregon 

 Chickadee, Western Winter Wren, 

 Western Golden-crowned Kinglet, 

 Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Slender-billed 

 Nuthatch, Western Bluebird. 



The Western Bluebird I think are 

 all dead. I found seventeen birds, I 

 tried to feed them, but I think they 

 starved. The Oregon Juncos are 

 hardy fellows. We fed more than 

 two hundred of them. They like 

 corn meal. The Varied Thrush stands 

 the cold better than the Western 

 Robin. GEORGE D. PECK. 



