THE OOLOGIST 



43 



sota, I had occasion to observe, and 

 act a part in one of the eternal 

 struggles for existence, that are al- 

 ways going on. 



Now it isn't a habit of mine to be 

 up with the sun and birds, but on this 

 occasion I was. Maybe my conscience 

 was troubling me and I couldn't sleep, 

 but nevertheless, there I was wander- 

 ing along like a lost soul looking for 

 something to haunt. 



It seems that I always was attract- 

 ed by water (not that I want to drink 

 it) and soon found myself sitting on 

 some rocks gazing out on the grassy 

 surface of the beautiful little lake and 

 wondering what kind of struggles and 

 strife was going on beneath the calm 

 of the surface. 



Along the shore was a fringe of 

 small box elder and plum trees. While 

 looking at a box elder I spied a large 

 cercropia moth hidden away against 

 the sun and heat of the day. Now of 

 all moths I seem to be attached to the 

 cecropia, those big, lazy, good natured 

 fellows that are so common on warm 

 evenings in early summer. I like 

 them I suppose because my first col- 

 lecting trip was rewarded by the cap- 

 ture of a large larvae of this moth 

 (which was years ago while with me 

 walking was still an uncertainty). I 

 couldn't resist handling him (or I 

 should say her, because it proved to 

 be a female) to see if she would make 

 a perfect specimen. After making 

 sure that she was perfect I decided to 

 put her back in the bushes to be her 

 own custodian until I should be ready 

 to return where I was staying. But 

 she didn't seem to like the place I 

 selected and moved to another bush 

 some twenty feet away. I thought, 

 "Anything to please the ladies" and 

 left her there. 



A large saucy blue jay that had 

 been doing considerable scolding in a 

 cottonwood tree across the street saw 



the moth change her address and 

 came over to do a bit of personal in- 

 vestigation, which in the end would 

 probably add to his breakfast. 



I didn't want to lose such a fine 

 specimen, but I did want to see if the 

 jay would find her, and what he would 

 do when he did so I sat very still. 

 Either the place didn't suit or the jay 

 was getting too close, anyhow she left 

 and started off across the lake. The 

 bluejay stood there and watched her 

 go and then shook himself in that 

 careless and comical way he has and 

 flew back to the tree and his argu- 

 ment. 



About that time I heard a loud chat- 

 ter and snapping of a beak and look- 

 ing in the direction of the moth saw 

 that a kingbird was also trying his 

 luck in the collecting game. After a 

 lot of chattering snopping and dodg- 

 ing the kingbird like the bluejay gave 

 up and retreated to his tree talking to 

 himself and the last I saw of the moth 

 she was still headed towards the far 

 side of the lake. 



I, like the others, turned from the 

 chase to other pursuits and other 

 moths. 



Cecil A. Brown, 

 U. S. S. Montana. 



On May 30, 1917, I collected a near- 

 ly fresh set of five Green Heron eggs 

 from a small wooded swamp near this 

 city. On July 7, I climbed again to 

 look over a nestful of four herons in 

 the same nest. They were a week or 

 ten days old at least. Now, figuring 

 15 days for incubation, four days for 

 laying and seven days for age of 

 young, that second set must have been 

 laid beginning June 10, probably two 

 or three days earlier. No vacillating 

 here, no waste of time. A bit over a 

 week, and a new set started. 



Raymond Fuller, 

 White Plains, Westchester Co., 



N. Y. 



