THE OOLOGIST 



Nor in all the years since being placed 

 in these glass cases, has any of the 

 specimens shown any signs of fading 

 or decay. 



Since Mr. Sutton wrote the article in 

 question, both Mr. Dickey and Mr. Car- 

 ter have sold their collections, scatter- 

 ing them to the winds. These young 

 men, both careful and conscientious 

 bird students, have been with me on 

 many of my trips; and Mr. Dickey's 

 early years as a beginner in bird 

 study, were largely spent with me in 

 the field or in my "den," and he can 

 be relied upon to quote appreciation 

 for instructions in data and bird notes 

 recording. 



Mr. Sutton, whom I never met, came 

 to see the eggs one evening while I 

 was away from home, and was shown 

 through my "den" by two of my young 

 sons. Had I been there to entertain 

 him, possibly I could have shown him 

 many interesting features about the 

 collection which he missed; and cer- 

 tainly he could have had a surprise 

 in seeing the mammoth set of fine, 

 well kept data books and other records 

 which go along with this highly 

 scientific and very widely known 

 oological collection. 



Very truly, 



J. Warren Jacobs, 



English Sparrow vs. House Finch 

 I have just read with interest the 

 article by Mr. Osterhout of Windsor, 

 Col., on the House Finch. This pretty 

 little songster was always a great fav- 

 orite of mine and was very common 

 around here until the English Spar- 

 rows arrived in numbers some sixteen 

 years ago. The House Finches seem to 

 be gradually diminishing in numbers of 

 late years, and this spring I have only 

 noticed three pairs in the vicinity of 

 my home. Their early spring song is 

 very sweet, and I always used to put 

 up several boxes around the porch for 



them to nest in, but now that the 

 hated sparrows have taken over every- 

 thing it would be next to impossible 

 for a pair of House Finches to build 

 a nest where the sparrows can get at 

 them, as they seem to destroy every 

 egg of any other bird that they can 

 find. A Western Robin built its nest 

 in a black walnut tree in our front 

 yard last spring, and also a Catbird 

 in a plum bush in our back yard and 

 when the eggs were laid in both of 

 these nests along came a flock of 

 sparrows and broke the eggs. I 

 notice the eggs of the House Finch 

 are described as green and blotched 

 with black. I have collected a large 

 number of sets of these eggs in years 

 gone by, and have five sets now in my 

 collection; these and all that I have 

 ever seen were a pale bluish white, 

 perhaps a trifle darker than eggs of 

 the Auk, Goldfinch and a little paler 

 than eggs of the Mountain Blue bird. 

 These are marked usually with specks, 

 very small spots and lines of black. I 

 have never seen any eggs of this 

 species that were blotched, as the 

 markings seem to be all very fine and 

 delicate. They are sometimes entire- 

 ly unmarked however, as I have a set 

 of four with three eggs unmarked and 

 the fourth egg has a few under shell 

 markings of small lilac gray specks on 

 the larger end. Another set of four 

 has one egg unmarked and the other 

 three with a very few small black 

 specks, scattered over the eggs. The 

 other three sets I have are marked 

 about normal. I certainly hope these 

 birds will not be entirely driven away 

 from their former haunts, but from 

 the way the sparrows are increasing I 

 am afraid they will. 



Robert F. Backus, 



Canon City, Colo. 



Birds Observed In a Single Day 



Qn May 19, 1917 in the vicinity of 



