54 



THE OOLOGtS? 



covered with paintings of flowers, but- 

 terflies and birds, a huge fresco of 

 roses hung above the door. From 

 here I had a good view. The lines ex- 

 tended for miles and one could see 

 nine towns, three within the Huns 

 lines and five within ours. 



The first night and day proved that 

 I was in a paradise of birds. The 

 fields below were fairly covered with 

 crows and magpies, who paid little or 

 no heed to the occasional roar of our 

 guns. Overhead a pair of hawks 

 circled and flew upward until they 

 were faint specks in the sky. Occa- 

 sionally I would find myself in the 

 midst of a flight of darting swallows, 

 that passed so close that I was kept 

 dodging. A chickadee peeped at us 

 inquisitively from behind a tree and 

 gaining confidence mounted quickly 

 to the top, to peer and search in that 

 busybody way he has. I knew then, 

 that I was going to like that sector. 

 And I did. 



I proceeded to become acquainted 

 with all my feathered neighbors I 

 found the chickadee had his home in 

 a shell torn atub nearby and visited 

 him until seven ugly youngsters lined 

 up at "right dress" outside the door. 

 I learned that I had only to lie down 

 in the fields below and the sky larks 

 would mount straight into the sky 

 and burst into a song more melodious 

 than any opera house can boast. 



That spring, three pair of field spar- 

 rows raised young before my shack, a 

 wren picked out the gallery of my 

 dugout for a place to raise six healthy 

 youngsters. At night I could hear the 

 far away notes of a Whippoorwill, but 

 never saw or flushed one during my 

 stay. There were dozens of kinds of 

 birds that I learned by sight but we 

 had no way of learning the names of 

 them. 



Last June we bad our quiet sector 

 farewell. As we passed through the 



town, where battalion headquarters 

 had been, the swallows seemed to en- 

 velop us with their queer unguided 

 flight. The little clay daubs under 

 the eaves had done their work well 

 and the world seemed alive with 

 them. Away up in the sky four dim 

 specks were circling. 



Way off to the left a gun cracked, 

 and that reminded us that there was 

 a war. But it was now over and we 

 hope to it that it is the last. But I 

 would like to spend that spring over 

 with a book on French birds. If any 

 one knows of one or of a French or- 

 nithologist, I would appreciate the 

 where and how of it. 



Lieut. C. R. M. Leudon. 



In a late number of the Oologist I 

 noticed an account of a Ruby-crowned 

 Knight seen in Pennsylvania on Dec. 

 14, 1916. Is not the sight of one in 

 Northern Minnesota on Thanksgiving 

 day, Nov. 29, at a latitude of 48 deg 

 N. quite as rare? Especially so when 

 you consider that Montgomery Co., 

 Pa., lies at 40 deg. N. Lat. and is near 

 the coast and East of the mountains. 

 The one I saw above referred to was 

 entirely alone and would indicate that 

 they linger along until the severe 

 weather set in to drive them South 

 almost by force. I don't blame them 

 for not wanting to leave the norlrti 

 with its rigorous healthy climate un- 

 til nature forces it to. The weather 

 four days after Thanksgiving dropped 

 to 6 deg. below zero and the river and 

 the land took on its blanket of snow 

 and ice. 



Red Lake Falls, Minn. 

 L. E. Healy, 



I had the good fortune to see a 

 Blue Grosbeak near our town last 

 June. This is the first record for our 

 County (Geauga) and so far as I know 

 for this part of the state. 



F. E. Ford, 



