THE OOLOGIST 



25 



bushels of them, but the Robins seem- 

 ed to like them and cleaned them up. 

 There must have been some thous- 

 ands of the birds, tne two acres of 

 ground around the house, the trees and 

 the air was full of them and every 

 little while a number of them would 

 come to drink at a small fountain near 

 the house. I set my camera on a stool 

 a few feet away, fastened a thread to 

 the trigger which I led through a win- 

 dow and in this way got several good 

 snap shots while they were drinking. 

 On the 16th they all left as suddenly 

 as they had come. 



R. D. Hoyt, 

 Clearwater, Fla. 

 The two photos of these Robins ap- 

 peared in the last number of "The 

 Oologist." — Editor. 



Illinois Audubon Society Bulletin, 



Spring, 1917. 



Some Remarks 



Pages 57-63 of this bulletin purports 

 to be a check list of Illinois birds. Of 

 this number, 177 are given as breeding 

 within limits of this state and of this 

 number 103 have been found breeding 

 in Marshall county, Illinois, (See O & 

 Vol. XV, P. 113, The Oologist, Vol. 

 XIX, P. 325). 



Concerning this list it appears that 

 some remarks, suggested by the ex- 

 perience of the writer and referred to 

 in the foregoing publications would not 

 be out of order. 



A. O. U. No. 6, Pied Billed Grebe, 

 much to the astonishment of the read- 

 er, this species is not named as a 

 breeder within this state, though it is 

 a common breeder throughout at least 

 the north half of Illinois and has 

 many times been found breeding in the 

 swamps and byous of the Illinois 

 River, within 60 miles of Lacon in each 

 direction, northwest and southeast. 



A. O. U. No. 131. Hooded Mergan- 

 ser. This bird was formerly uncom- 

 mon breeder along the Illinois River. 



A. O. U. No. 132. Mallard Duck. 

 For some unaccountable reason this 

 bird is not given in the list now under 

 review as a breeder in this state, 

 though it has always bred along the 

 Illinois River and formerly around the 

 prairie sloughs, and ponds in consider- 

 able numbers. I have eggs in my col- 

 lection taken in the Winnebago 

 swamps in Henry county. 



A. O. U. No. 139 and 140. Both of 

 these species of Teal nest sparingly 

 along the Illinois River, the latter be- 

 ing the more common breeder and 

 formerly it nested around the prairie 

 ponds and swamps in considerable 

 numbers. Why those birds are not 

 named, in this list as a breeder of 

 this state, we are unable to say. 



A. O. XL No. 149 and 150. Ring 

 Necked Duck and Scaup Duck. These 

 birds breed sparingly along the Illi- 

 nois River, though they are not men- 

 tioned as breeders in this list. 



A. O. U. No. 206. Sand Hill Crane. 

 Formerly nested on prairies on north- 

 ern and north central Illinois. 



Why these birds are not referred to 

 in this Bulletin as Illinois breeders 

 is a wonder. 



R. M. Barnes. 



Illinois Notes 



I lived this year in Lake Co., Illi- 

 nois, on a farm where there were no 

 cats, that is, no resident cats, one oc- 

 casionally wandered over, but not 

 often. The consequence was, I suc- 

 ceeded by oft raiding the English 

 Sparrow nests, in helping through a 

 fine lot of Barn Swallows, and one day 

 in Autumn I counted about one hun- 

 dred and seventy Barn and Cliff Swal- 

 lows, on the telephone wires. Dur- 

 ing the summer . I destroyed around 

 one hundred and twenty English Spar- 

 rows' eggs, and at least twenty birds 

 were drowned in tanks. 



Our dog killed many birds in the 



