THE 00L0QI8T 



65 



caught. During one snow storm the 

 entire flock left the chimney in a great 

 rush, and wandered gloomily to the 

 southward until they were out of sight. 



55. Ruby Throated Hummingbird 

 Common summer resident. I dis- 

 covered only two nests, however. 



56. Kingbird 



Another species which is notably 

 scarce as compared with its abundance 

 further east and west. The birds 

 seems more abundant locally, at Col- 

 lier in the northern part of the county. 



57. Crested Flycatcher 



Common summer resident of the 

 high open groves. These in company 

 with the red bellied woodpeckers seek 

 the almost inaccessible snags in the 

 highest forest trees for their nesting 

 sites. Thir loud defiant call is one of 

 the most characteristic notes of the 

 forest land. 



58. Phoebe 



Abundant summer resident. The 

 bird returns early from the south, and 

 nesting activities commence soon. The 

 usual set of eggs is five, according to 

 my averages, though three and four 

 have been noted; however, cowbird 

 eggs with these sets may account for 

 the absence of one or two of the owner. 



59. Wood Pewee 



Common summer resident. I have 

 had several enjoyable experiences with 

 a certain pewee, chasing up moths 

 from the grass for him to catch. He 

 would watch on a nearby twig until I 

 had kicked up some insect and then 

 he would dart down and snatch it up, 

 even though I were only six feet away. 



60. Yellow Bellied Flycatcher 

 Taken twice during fall migration. 



61. Acadian Flycatcher 



Ratl^r rare summer resident. The 

 species builds a rather frail nest near 

 the ends of horizontal branches. A 

 specimen in my collection shows the 

 strong buffy tinge of the immature on 

 its wing Coverts, 



62. Least Flycatcher 



Recorded twice, but apparently does 

 not breed at all, though I have made 

 a diligent search. 



63. Prairie Horned Lark 



Fairly common permanent resident. 

 This species is characteristic of the 

 high open hill tops, and its actions 

 and song are peculiarly suited to such 

 an environment. They are very early 

 nesters here, and I have not succeed- 

 ed in finding a nest with eggs, as yet. 

 The birds are locally more abundant 

 toward Ohio County to the south. 



64. Blue Jay 



Along with other common birds of 

 the mid-west this species shares the 

 distinction of being rare. Strange to 

 say I have but five records. One was 

 seen fiying high over the flat land in 

 the Cross Creek district in the fall of 

 1916. Two were observed in an old 

 apple orchard in the spring of 1917, 

 and two were heard later that year. 

 Specimens in the Bethany College col- 

 lections suggest that the species may 

 have been more common formerly. 



65. Am. Crow 



Abundant permanent resident. I 

 have not ascertained whether there 

 was a crow roost in the county during 

 the winter of '15-'16, but the numbers 

 of crows that went over each evening 

 about six o'clock indicate that a roost 

 was somewhere close at hand. There 

 were literally thousands of crows in 

 these flocks. Over 8,000 were counted 

 in one evening, and then all were not 

 counted. During the severe winter of 

 1918 the crows feasted on a certain 

 dead hog in a field near Bethany. This 

 one hog evidently fed all the crows in 

 the neighborhood during most of the 

 season. 



66. Bobolink 



This species probably does not nest 

 though the conditions are favorable, 

 ^mall flocks remain about the flelds 



