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THE OOLOGIST 



about thirty yards from the first nest; 

 then I used my field glasses every day 

 to see when she was incubating. When 

 she remained on the nest for two days 

 I climbed and got the nest and four 

 beautiful speckled eggs, just fourteen 

 days from time I found eggs missing 

 from first nest. What became of the 

 eggs in the first nest, I could not dis- 

 cover as no sign was in nest or on 

 ground under the nest. 



Now this little bird reasoned that 

 her first nest was not in a secure 

 place and that she might be prevented 

 from raising a brood there and acted 

 on this reasoning and built elsewhere. 



I have had the same experience with 

 the Black-whiskered Vireo and Swal- 

 low-tailed Kite, except they did not 

 remove the nest. If one climbs to the 

 nest of the last two named birds and 

 does not get the eggs he finds in the 

 nest, he will find it empty the next 

 time he climbs. If a Swallow-tailed 

 Kite sees you in the vicinity of her 

 nest before she lays, she will build 

 again elsewhere and you can look her 

 up again, if you expect to get her 

 eggs. 



These three birds are the only ones 

 breeding here that will desert their 

 nest in this manner. 



Would like to give The Oologist 

 readers • some of my experience in 

 making pets about my camps in differ- 

 ent places of Florida, Cardinals, Sea- 

 side Sparrows and other birds, Rac- 

 coon and even the alligator, if I could 

 picture it just as well as I enjoyed it. 

 Some day I hope to send The Oologist 

 a picture of Florida Cardinals feeding 

 with my White Orfington chickens, it 

 is to me a beautiful sight. 



J. B. Ellis, 



Everglade, Fla. 



The Buffle Head In the Okanagan Val- 

 ley, British Columbia 



This handsome little duck breeds 



on many of the small lakes in the in- 

 terior of British Columbia. While the 

 majority of the Buffle Heads spend 

 the winter on the coast, enough win- 

 ter on Okanagan Lake to bring it in 

 the class of a resident species. Short- 

 ly after the eggs are laid generally 

 in the latter part of May, the drakes 

 mysteriously disappear and are not 

 seen again until late September or 

 October, when they join the females 

 and the young. At this time the 

 drakes have completely pased through 

 the eclipse and show no sign of moult. 

 A drake taken at 105 Mile House, 

 Carihoo, on Sept. 6th is in fully adult 

 plumage. Young drakes shot in De- 

 cember and January are in a state of 

 moult, the first indication being a 

 sprinkling of violet feathers on the 

 black head. The feet are purplish, 

 halfway between the plumbeous of 

 the young and the dark flesh of the 

 fully adult. The moult makes slow 

 progress and is probably not com- 

 pleted until the following autumn. 



These little ducks are lighter on 

 the wing than any other of the ducks, 

 rising from the water with a spring 

 like a Teal and flying with remarkable 

 swiftness. 



Early in the spring they leave the 

 large lakes and gather in small flocks, 

 generally six or eight together, or the 

 small alkaline lakes in the hills. The 

 courtship display is a simple one. 

 The drake rises from the water and 

 makes a short flight around the duck 

 and then drops in beside her, with 

 spread wings. The drakes chase one 

 another a great deal. On one occa- 

 sion I watched a mated pair and a 

 single drake going through an extra- 

 ordinary performance. The unmated 

 drake, at a distance of fifteen or twen- 

 ty yards,, from the mated birds would 

 sink belOw the surface and swim un- 

 der water towards the other drake, 

 putting his head out, once or twice, 



