54 



THE OOLOGIST 



1. Horned Grebe 



One specimen was shot in January, 

 1916, on Buffalo Creek. The hunter 

 stated that he had shot the same 

 species before several times, but he 

 may easily have confused his birds 

 with the pied billed sepcies. There 

 are two mounted specimens at Fol- 

 lansbee, however, in the nuptial plu- 

 mage, which from all I can gather, 

 were secured on the Ohio river some 

 years ago. A rather close observer 

 of birds was fortunate enough to 

 watch an individual of this species 

 swim, dive and sport about in the 

 water at the remarkable distance of 

 about six feet. The bird was identi- 

 fied by its scarlet eyes. 



2. Pied Billed Grebe 



Seemingly of rather regular occur- 

 rence even in the smaller creeks. One 

 specimen in my collection was shot on 

 Oct. 23, 1916, practically in the town 

 of Bethany. I have noted the bird sev- 

 eral times in the deeper pools along 

 the creek. As is common with the 

 family the specimens I have collected 

 have had their stomachs full of their 

 own feathers. 



3. Loon 4 



A rather remarkable capture of this 

 species took place in one of the quieter 

 stretches of Castleman's Run. The 

 bird, having settled on the water at 

 night was swimming about calmly 

 when an early farmer passed. The 

 loon finding diving impossible in the 

 shallow water tried to rise, but could 

 not since there was not a long enough 

 stretch of deep water. The bird was 

 killed and brought in shortly after- 

 ward. Loons have been captured on 

 the Ohio also. I understand that the 

 whole of the Ohio river is considered 

 as part of West Virginia, so that Ohio 

 river records are records for this 

 state. 



4. Am. Herring Gull 



A hard storm in the winter of 1911 

 brought a lone gull to a farm house 

 near Bethany. By close comparison 

 of saved primary feathers, I judged 

 this bird to have been of this species. 

 Gulls sometimes appear irregularly 

 along the Ohio, but I have not as- 

 certained the species. I have no posi- 

 tive record for any species of Tern. 



5. Red Breasted Merganser 



A wounded female was secured in 

 the winter of 1916. This species must 

 surely occur on the Ohio at times, but 

 I have no such records, — partly, per- 

 haps because so much of my available 

 time was spent in the interior of the 

 county. 



6. Hooded Merganser 



As a surprise to me this species is 

 one of the most regular and common 

 water birds on Buffalo Creek. Small 

 active fiocks appeared every winter. 

 One beautiful specimen was secured 

 on April 5,^ — a male in perfect con- 

 dition. In the fall of the same year 

 a female, which was by herself was 

 •secured, and a wounded female was 

 discovered the following spring in a 

 small artificial pond. A flock of six 

 individuals remained near town for an 

 extended visit shortly after the cap- 

 ture of this specimen. 



7. Mallard 



Ducks are anything but common 

 along the smaller creeks and are never 

 abundant even on the Ohio, but the 

 Mallards appear in migrations, and 

 may be found in occasional bunches 

 of three or four. One pair of Mal- 

 lards remained very late in the spring 

 of 1916, and I feel confident that they 

 would have nested had not the male 

 been shot. 



8. Gadwall 



An interesting specimen of this 

 rather rare species was brought to me 

 on April 4, 1916. It was shot from a 



