136 



THE OOLOGIST 



the front side of the box, protruding 

 over the tip edge about 2 inches, nail 

 the box on the back, or, opposite side 

 to the pole, load bottom of box with 

 cotton, lower it down past nest, then 

 come up slowly, keeping the tin side 

 close to side of chimney. First thing 

 you know it feels like you have struck 

 a snag, but you have struck the nest. 

 Right here is where a queer "shakey" 

 feeling comes over you, fear some of 

 the eggs have slipped between the tin 

 and the chimney. But Avhen you pull 

 up the box and find out you have got 

 the full set without breaking any, just 

 consider yourself lucky. But, in the 

 long run you will find out you are 

 gambling, when it comes to getting a 

 full set, without breaking two or three 

 of them. 



Chimney Swifts may be seen on a 

 bright sunny day (early in the morn- 

 ing or more so, late in the evening) 

 flying very high over the city in search 

 of insects, performing their wonderful 

 aeronautical feats and uttering their 

 unmusical twittering. But, on a dark, 

 cloudy evening, when the black clouds 

 are hanging low, they can be seen 

 skimming low over back yards, and 

 grassy pastures, in the act of catching 

 the insects, but they give forth lit- 

 tle twittering, if any, when flying low 

 on a day of this kind. 



The Chimney is a very common bird 

 around Marshall, and I have seen dur- 

 ing the mating season, as many as 

 eight or ten hundred go to roost in 

 the Court House chimney at one time, 

 which would take an hour and a half 

 for all of them to file in. The reason 

 it takes so long for them to get in the 

 chimney is that sometimes they don't 

 get quite high enough over the top of 

 the chimney, or some of the other 

 birds get in their way, therefore they 

 are often compelled to circle around 

 and make another attempt at it, some- 

 times as many as four or five times. 



To see these birds going to roosi:, 

 would remind one of the contents of 

 a huge funnel circling around and 

 around, occasionally a few drops drop- 

 ping down the spout. They will fiy 

 around in this manner until all suc- 

 ceed in gaining entrance into the 

 chimney, which is rarely accomplished 

 before dark. 



Abundance of Sturnella Magna in 



Northern New Jersey During the 

 Present Winter, 1915-16. 



On eight different dates since De- 

 cember 15, 1915, the writer has found 

 an unusual numtjer of Meadowlark^ 

 present in several sections of the 

 northern half of New Jersey. 



On December 15th at Wayne, Morris 

 County, near the powder works, a 

 flock of twenty-four were observed 

 feeding in the adjacent fields. 



On December 21st, a flock of ten 

 were observed near Bi tier, Morris 

 County. 



On th:^ 25th, while making the cen- 

 sus for Christmas day, found three at 

 Pomptou Plains, Mor:^^ County, near 

 the canal feeder. 



On Janjary 1st, fi^'^c were observed 

 at Hawthorne, Passai: County in the 

 fields adjacent to Passaic River. 



On the 4th, on Newark Meadows, 

 Hudson County, near the Hackensack 

 River, a fleck of forty were observed 

 roving about. 



On the 16th, seven observed at 

 Great Notch, Passaic County. 



On the 22d, fourteen including a 

 partly albino male, were observed at 

 Midvale, Passaic County during the 

 early morning. 



And on the 24th, four were observed 

 at Lincoln Park, Morris County, in 

 the open fields near the railroad. 



The above records constitute the 

 most abundant year that I have ever 

 experienced during my experience as 

 an observer. 



L. S. Kohler. 



