134 



THE OOLOGIST 



on the Spring river, near here. He 

 took it to several local naturalists be- 

 fore it was identified. 



The above clipping I received from 

 an acquaintance in Los Angeles, Calif., 

 recently. No doubt they as well as 

 the author of the article thought it of 

 great scientific value. The "Swan" 

 article, if true, is to be regretted that 

 so rare a bird had to be destroyed, 

 but it is only one instance of what is 

 being done the country over. I can 

 well remember when the Pileated 

 Woodpecker was a common bird on 

 the Kaskaska River and especially in 

 the heavy timber north of Huey, 111. 

 Now they are almost extinct. The 

 hunters and fishermen are responsible 

 to a very great extent. Of course the 

 cutting out of the timber had its effect 

 but the fisherman killed them and 

 other birds for bait, and the hunters 

 shot them whenever opportunity 

 offered, merely for the sake of having 

 what they considered an honor to tell 

 they succeeded in killing one of the 

 old Bull's eyes they called him. In 

 response to Delos Hatch's article, 

 "Someone ought to shoot the boy," I 

 have no doubt he as well as hundreds 

 of his kind have done enough damage 

 to the birds to warrant the assertion, 

 but I have some experience witn the 

 Sparrow Hawk, which convinces me 

 they do a vast amount of harm to 

 small birds. I live about one hundred 

 yards from the M. E. Church building 

 and it is one of the old style build- 

 ings with a tall bell house. Several 

 years ago the Flicker picked holes in 

 the gable, and a Sparrow Hawks had 

 nested there for probably fifteen years. 

 There are a lot of shade trees in the 

 vicinity which afford nesting places 

 for Flickers, Red Headed Woodpeck- 

 ers, Robins, Baltimore Orioles, Blue 

 Jays, House Wrens, European House 

 Sparrows, and it is a common thing 

 to hear a commotion among the birds. 



Invariably the Sparrow may be seen 

 flying away with some of their young 

 in its talons. In fact I am of the 

 opinion they succeeded in getting 

 nearly all the young Robins as they 

 are the most helpless of the lot. I 

 have succeeded in inducing the Great 

 Crested Flycatcher to nest on my 

 home place in boxes put up in the 

 gable end of outbuildings. They are 

 a little scary but I do not intrude and 

 they are getting tamer. I passed 

 within eight feet of them while they 

 were feeding their young and they 

 merely looked at me a second and 

 went right on as much as to say "You 

 are harmless." We have only a few 

 early arrivals so far. I saw Jan. 12 

 Mourning Doves; Jan. 27, Meadow 

 Larks; Jan. 29, Robins 3; Bluebirds, 2. 

 The Robins and Bluebirds have been 

 seen every few days since. 



C. B. Vandercook, 



Adin, 111. 



Okanagan Landing, B. C. 

 Dear Sir: In answer to Mr. P. B. 

 Peabody's letter in the May Oologist 

 I should like to point out that Okana- 

 gan Landing is not in the coast region 

 of British Columbia but some two hun- 

 dred and fifty miles east in the semi- 

 arid interior. If Mr. Peabody could 

 compare winter skins of Pallidus 

 from this district with the type form 

 and with speciens of Salieamaus from 

 the coast I think he would be satis- 

 fied as to the validity of the former 

 race. 



J. A. Monro, 

 Okanagan Landing, B. C. 



Mrs. Delos Hatch. 

 Mrs. Ellen Hatch, the wife of one 

 of the best known oologists in the 

 West, Delos Hatch, pased away very 

 suddenly at her home in Oakfield, 

 Wisconsin, June 1st and we extend 

 our sympathy to her bereaved hus- 

 band. 



