THE OOLOGIST 



203 



vitz, an instrument man, noticed the 

 rattle population was being rapidly de- 

 pleted by the paisanos, (Road-runner), 

 and he frequently witnessed battles 

 royal between the bird and the reptile. 

 Crossing a sandy waste one day, Mos- 

 kovitz came upon a particularly fine 

 specimen of snake fighting for its life, 

 and without any ado went to the 

 rescue, driving off the bird. 

 The snake, evidently, thinking that it 

 bad found a friend for life, followed 

 him into camp and made a home in 

 one of Jerry's old boots. Now Jerry is 

 a particularly sound sleeper, alarm 

 clocks notwithstanding, and this the 

 snake soon noticed, so, festooning 

 himself on the head of Jerry's bed, he 

 thrust his head into the sleeper's 

 watch pocket, so as to get the correct 

 time, hung his tail by Jerry's ear and 

 promptly began to rattle at 5 a. m. 



Jerry has now become famous for 

 his early rising. — Clipping from A. F. 

 Ganer, Nashville, Tenn. 



Texas Bird Notes. 



Oct. 10. Three large bunches of 

 geese came in from the north and 

 flew over my camps. I said to a 

 friend of mine that it would be cool 

 weather soon. And it was cool 

 weather before dark. When a bunch 

 of geese shows up at Lake Worth this 

 time of the year you can always bet 

 on cool weather. 



One morning the Barn Swallows 

 came over camps by the thousands; 

 they were flying north, and it sur- 

 prised me to see them going north in- 

 stead of south, but it was not very 

 long until a big rain storm came up 

 from the south. Then after the rain 

 the wind changed to the north and it 

 got cool, then the Swallows came 

 back by camps flying south. The 

 birds seem to know when the weather 

 is going to be bad. Swallows are 

 spending most of their time at pres- 



ent flying back and forth over the 

 lake, they can be seen by the thous- 

 ands dipping down to the water all 

 around the lake. 



Six big American White Pelicans 

 were observed the other day, down in 

 the big waters. Several single Peli- 

 cans have been noticed at times. 



Ten Blue Jays were seen in one 

 bunch headed south. 



All kinds of Terns and Gulls are 

 coming in and departing every day. 



Blue Herons are plentifully scattered 

 ever the lake. 



Pied-billed Grebes showed up a week 

 ago but all are gone now. 



Two American Osprey were ob- 

 served flying over the lake. They 

 have been here several days. 



To date, Oct. 15th, the Ducks are 

 not showing up yet to amount to any- 

 thing, although not a day passes that 

 several bunches of Ducks can be seen 

 over the lake. 



Ramon Graham, 



Lake Worth, 

 Tarrant Co., Tex. 



Screech Owls. 

 At the country home of Dr. T. B. 

 Hill of this city, about four miles from 

 town and what is known as the 

 Vaughn road, is a small grove of trees, 

 mostly elms, which have been there 

 since the settlement of that locality 

 sometime prior to 1860. In this little 

 grove, covering about three and one- 

 half acres, was situated the home of 

 the father of the present owner to 

 which he moved shortly after his mar- 

 riage in February, 1861. Mrs. Hill, 

 recently deceased, states that shortly 

 after she went there, or about the 

 1st of May, 1861, she remembers a 

 Screech Owl's nest in a certain tree 

 in the grove. The Owls have con- 

 tinued to nest in the grove, from that 

 time down to the present. The pres- 

 ent owner recalls that there have been 



