THE OOLOGIST 



37 



was just finishing writing the ab6ve 

 when I heard one of my corks pop in 

 the water. I laid my note book 

 down on the seat of the boat, and 

 quickly pulled out a nice Croppie; re- 

 baited and then kept my ears and 

 eyes open for more birds. The Red- 

 headed Woodpeckers were busy ham- 

 mering away testing out their bills 

 for the coming spring and breeding 

 season. They made music while I 

 fished. Glancing overhead a Flicker 

 passed, going on about its business. 

 Through the mixed blue and white 

 clouds a Sharp-shinned Hawk darted 

 and shrieked drowsily swinging back 

 and fourth over the tree tops in 

 search of a late sleeping bird. A Red- 

 bellied Woodpecker pounded away on 

 an old dead hollow tree near by, as 

 if he was telling the Barn Owl that 

 was inside, that it was daylight and 

 he could go to sleep now if he could 

 stand the racket he made. 



As the sun peeped out occasionally 

 between the clouds the birds became 

 more plentiful and musical. Blue- 

 birds which looked to be in pairs flew 

 down and scattered in the frosty 

 leaves and flew away to examine 

 the woodpeckers holes in the dead 

 timber. 



A Kingfisher flew noisily by alight- 

 ing on a overhanging tree to watch 

 out of his morning meal. 



Vultures circled back and forth 

 over the rocky banks thinking that 

 spring was near and that the rocky 

 cliffs and bluffs make an ideal nesting 

 site during March and April. 



All the birds were happy and indus- 

 trious until the man bird showed up; 

 as the aeroplane purred over the tree 

 tops all birds made away in the op- 

 posite direction, and as the birds had 

 "vamoosed" and I had a pretty good 

 vamoosed and I had a pretty good 



string of croppies, I pulled in lines 

 and hit it for camp. 



Ramon Graham, 

 Texas, 1920. 



A Fight. 

 Game Warden G. E. Maxon, and I 

 were walking along a rocky bluff near 

 the river and were surprised to see 

 several Black Vultures fly from the 

 ground. We went to where they flew 

 from and there lay a half dead Tur- 

 key Vulture. This appeared to us that 

 Black and Turkey Vultures do not get 

 along very well. 



The Musical Buzzard. 



The Buzzard that I reported some 

 time ago, that flew back and forth 

 with a bell tied to his neck, and ring- 

 ing every time he flopped his wings, 

 was also seen by a bird observer fifty 

 miles below here. 1 also received a 

 letter from a bird observer in Ohio 

 that he had belled this Buzzard. It 

 looks like to me that this Buzzard wa^- 

 taking quite a trip. 



Ramon Grahan 



Texas Notes, 1920. 



Winter Birds Around London, Ontario 



The Mcllwraith Ornithological Club, 

 of London, Ontario, of which I am a 

 member, has been getting out a list 

 of all the birds seen around our city, 

 each year, for the past ten or fifteen 

 years. We are so situated that we 

 can only do our field work on holi- 

 days, Saturday afternoons, and in the 

 early spring mornings during the mi- 

 grations of the birds. This year we 

 started out on New Year's Day, and 

 up to the 15th of February, we have 

 a list of forty birds recorded. When 

 one considers the severity of the 

 weather this winter, and the depth 

 of snow, and the number of species 

 recorded is remarkable. T:ie ther- 

 mometer has hovered around the zero 



