190 



THE OOLOOIST 



a struggling, squirming bird. It was 

 with difficulty that they could be haul- 

 ed in as over a thousand were unable 

 to extricate themselves. They would 

 attempt to fly and would at times lift 

 quite a portion of the net out of the 

 water. The weight was so great that 

 Stegnaro could not take all the bird 

 catch in the boat and a half was given 

 to G. Bregante, who took them to the 

 wharf in this city and the entire night 

 was spent by both Stegnaro and Breg- 

 ante in extricating the birds, many of 

 which strangled to death in the nets. 

 The birds fought the fishermen with 

 their sharp beaks and caused their 

 hands to be covered with small flesh 

 wounds. — San Jose Mercury and Her- 

 ald. W. A. Strong. 

 San Jose, Cal. 



Our Woodpeckers. 



The following Woodpeckers I have 

 observed in this locality, the South- 

 east portion of Columbia County: 

 Northern Downy, resident of a great- 

 er portion of the years; I think they 

 range a short ways back and forth. I 

 have found them nesting. Northern 

 Hairy, visitor from the north. Yellow- 

 bellied Sapsucker, I have found them 

 here, but never found a nest. Red- 

 bellied Woodpecker, have seen two 

 or three here in the spring. Red-head- 

 ed Woodpecker, resident whole year, 

 at least there are always a few to be 

 found here, breed; I have a set of 

 five eggs containing a runt. Northern 

 Flicker, common spring, summer and 

 fall, breed. 



George W. H. vosBurgh. 



Copy. 

 This issue of THE OOLOGIST about 

 exhausts the supply of copy on hand 

 and we would appreciate it if those in- 

 terested in the little journal would get 

 busy forthwith, immediately, and at 

 once and replenish our supply. 



A Bachelor Nest of the Barn Swallow. 

 Where is the collector who does not 

 pause in his search for rareties to 

 flush the brooding Robin from her 

 nest, only to be greeted by the four 

 familiar blue eggs? Curiosity is com- 

 mon to all animals and many interest- 

 ing and unusual phases of bird life 

 are revealed to the student, which 

 would otherwise escape his observa- 

 tion, if it were not for the desire to 

 peer into every nest which comes un- 

 der his notice. 



It was this same spirit of inquisi- 

 tiveness rather than a desire to add 

 another set to the already elongated 

 row in my cabinet, that prompted me 

 to retrace my steps to ascertain the 

 contents of a Barn Swallow's nest I 

 had found almost completed two 

 weeks previous. 



When I reached the sheep-shed the 

 female flew from the nest and began 

 a nervous flight in and out of the 

 building. The nest was empty. One 

 week later I again visited the nest and 

 found Mrs. Swallow apparently incu- 

 bating. She left the nest as I entered 

 the shed — uttering faint notes of pro- 

 test, still the nest contained no eggs 

 although the lining was very warm, 

 which showed that the bird had been 

 covering the nest for some time. By 

 this time I was very much interested 

 and at the expiration of eight days 

 made a special trip of three miles to 

 see if anything new had developed. 

 As usual the female was on the nest 

 and displayed much concern at my ap- 

 proach, but the nest held nothing but 

 an extra large amount of chicken 

 feathers. 



As near as I can judge this Barn 

 Swallow had been incubating an emp- 

 ty nest for twenty-four days. Very 

 likely the birds were too old to breed, 

 but were obeying the natural impulse 

 to reproduce species of their own kind. 

 James B. Carter. 



