170 



THE OOLOGIST 



a limb in a pecan tree, right over the 

 end of a trench. He stayed there dur- 

 ing the whole two hours that we were 

 there and never seems to be scared 

 at all. 



In the mornings and evenings, and 

 after we have had a little shower of 

 rain, you can hear the Texan Bob- 

 white whistling down in the valley 

 below our camp within a hundred 

 miles. At night I have often lain 

 awake listening to the whippoorwills 

 calling to each other and then there 

 was the hawk too. There is a tree 

 that sits within fifty feet of my tent 

 just off of the Company reservation 

 and a Texas Screech Owl delights in 

 scheeching to us at night. Somehow 

 I never mind his screeching, it seems 

 like music to hear the old boy, out 

 there just like he used to in the good 

 old days. A mocking bird nested in a 

 thorn bush just outside our reservation 

 this summer. Mr. Mocker used the 

 corner of our bath house as his sing- 

 ing perch and lookout tower, never 

 minding the men that came and went 

 all the time. Somehow these birds 

 and animals had no fear of the men 

 that wore the O. D., they let them 

 near and showed no fear whatever. 



While I was in quarantine with the 

 Spanish influenza, thirteen water 

 birds, I could hardly identify them 

 but believe that they were Brandts, 

 circled over our tents, just like the 

 aeroplanes do all the time. They 

 circled around and around, seeming 

 curious to see what we were out there 

 sitting around in the sun. Some of 

 the men took it as a bad omen, some 

 of the superstitious, thinking that 

 they were Vultures, and there being 

 thirteen. In the other camps men 

 were dying like sheep and in our 

 camp that was a one died. That does 

 not pertain to Camp McArthur, but 

 to our Quartermaster Quarantine 

 Camp. These birds after flying noise- 



lessly around for a few minutes head- 

 ed south again. 



I receive the The Oologist regularly 

 and it is a great help. I certainly en- 

 joy reading it and it brings back fond 

 memories of my collecting days. I 

 not only read it but all of the boys in 

 my tent take an interest in it and read 

 it and the boys seem to enjoy my tell- 

 ing them about my collection and my 

 collecting trips over the state. 



Leverette Fitzpatrick. 



Ruby Throated Hummingbirds 



In one of the early spring issues of 

 the OOLOGIST, I noticed an article by 

 Ra3^mond Fuller, in which he men- 

 tioned the fact that he had found an 

 old nest of the Ruby-throated Hum- 

 mer, and a new nest on the same limb. 

 I have been making a special study 

 of this interesting species, and had 

 often thought that they returned to 

 their last year's home. Indeed I had 

 found several nests which had very 

 evidently been rebuilt. On July 6th, 

 1918, I collected a set of Ruby-throats 

 in a nest four inches from a double 

 nest. The three nests were on the 

 end of a white oak limb overhanging 

 a roadway through the woods. This 

 seems to be a favorite habit of theirs. 

 Either a shaded roadway or a small 

 clearing, with a dead limb nearby to 

 use as a perch. A week later I found 

 another double nest which was, how- 

 ever unoccupied. Ruby-throated Hum- 

 mers are with us from the first week 

 in May to the last week in September 

 and I am quite certain that they have 

 second settings, having found eggs 

 only slightly incubated, the second 

 week, in July. I intended having 

 photos taken of the double nests, but 

 expect to be called into military ser- 

 vice within a few days, so will not 

 have time. Harry M. Harrison, 



Sept. 26, 1918. Cambridge, Md. 



