June 12, 1909.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
931 
full and acknowledge its fascination. I am per¬ 
suaded that new vistas open before us in the 
way indicated by the work of Dr. Hodge, and that 
they will prove in the end the most enticing. 
I venture to think the photographs more 
effective documents for the Audubon Society 
than any pages of print could be, and I hope 
you will give them the great Forest and 
Stream circulation. C. H. Ames. 
Collecting Birds. 
Logkport, N. Y., June 5.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: For many years I had a permit to 
collect birds, their nests and eggs, but, for sev¬ 
eral years past I did not have it renewed, al¬ 
though I often saw birds, nest and eggs that I 
needed in my collection, and could not take 
them. Here are some examples: 
The day following the opening of the shoot¬ 
ing season last September at our cottage on 
Lake Ontario at Olcott Beach, my grand¬ 
children came running in and reported “two 
ducks on the wharf.” I soon had my gun" and 
shells and started to find the ducks. When I 
w'as outside the house I saw a flight of blue¬ 
birds and warblers that had just crossed the 
lake—forty miles. The bluebirds were on the 
roofs and verandas of a number of cottage^, and 
the warblers in the trees and shrubbery. 
Among the latter I saw one that I did not 
identify, and was much interested in it; from a 
tree on the very edge of the bank it flew to the 
fence about two rods from me, from there to a 
weed within a rod, where I had a good view and 
recognized it as the blue-winged warbler 
(Helniinthophila pinus), of which I had never 
taken an adult male. The bird seemed to be 
as much interested in me as I was in it, and to 
get a better view of me it came and alighted 
on the muzzle of my gun. This confidence 
quite disarmed me, and I would not have shot 
it, had I had a permit. I saw nothing of the 
ducks the children had reported; in fact, I had 
forgotten all about them. 
As a few warblers occur here during migra¬ 
tion that I still need in my collection, I wrote 
to Frank M. Chapman, of the American 
Museum of Natural History, asking if I could 
get my permit renewed. He answered that the 
Museum no longer issued the permits, and that 
I would have to apply to the Forest, Fish and 
Game Commission. I wrote to the commis¬ 
sion and received an answer from our old friend, 
John B. Burnham, who sent me the required 
blanks to be filled out, and in due time I re¬ 
ceived the permit. L^p to this date, I have taken 
but one specimen. 
On that day, I received from a lady residing 
two miles east of the city a letter, saying that 
a queer bird had been about the place for two 
or three days, and that it was so tame one 
could walk up within two feet of it. From its 
size and its fearlessness, I concluded that it 
must be a crossbill, and taking a specimen of 
that bird, I wheeled out to Mrs. D.’s, little ex¬ 
pecting to still find the bird there, two days 
after the letter was written. As I dismounted 
from my bicycle, I said as much to the son, who 
assured me that he had seen it a few minutes 
before. Leading me back of the barn, we 
found it on the ground, feeding on small flies, 
sometimes flying up after them in true fly-catch¬ 
ing style. I at once called it a fly-catcher—■ 
“the hooded fly-catcher” of Coues’s “Key to 
North American Bird,” published in 1872. 
I walked up within three feet of it, but it did 
not seem to notice me, and after following it 
for a few minutes, I was within arm’s length 
of it, and tried to drop my hat over it. After 
two or three attempts, it took wing and flew 
to the apple orchard some ten rods away, where 
we failed to find it, but in a few minutes it was 
again in the barn yard. The young man got a 
net used in catching pigeons, and pushing the 
net in front on the ground, at the first attempt 
succeeded in turning it over the bird. It was 
removed without injury, and I put it in a paper 
bag in which I punctured some holes. On 
reaching home I dropped in the bag. some 
MR. AMES AND HIS NEW FRIEND. 
cotton saturated with chloroform, closing the 
bag below the punctures, and the next morning 
found the bird in good condition for the taxi¬ 
dermist. 
On looking in Coues’s later edition, and in 
his “Check List of 1882,” I could not find 
hooded fly-catcher; but in the Check List, page 
40, No. 146. find hooded fly-catching warbler 
(Myiodioctes initratiis), and in the A. O. U. 
Check List, 1884, hooded warbler (Sylvania 
mitrata). Now, from what I saw of this bird’s 
movement, I would never have suspected that 
it was a warbler, and from the first sight of it, 
thought it was a fly-catcher; but I do not pre¬ 
tend to know all about fly-catchers and warblers. 
Several years ago James Savage, of Buffalo, 
sent Forest and Stream a photograph of nest 
and eggs of the hooded warbler taken at West 
Falls, some twenty-five miles south of Buffalo; 
and a year later, in the same vicinity, he and I 
found a nest containing one egg, which I took 
and now have. We saw only the female and 
only for a moment, but Mr. Savage knew it 
as the hooded warbler. In thirty years collect¬ 
ing, I have never before seen the species in 
Niagara county. J. L. Davison. 
Martins in Villages. 
St. Paul, Minn., June 5 . — Editor Forest and 
Stream: For the information of N. F. W., I 
offer our experience with the martins we have 
had for neighbors the past six years. I inclose 
a photograph of their house, which is on a pole 
about ten feet above the ground, and is placed 
in the yard, attached to a small house used 
by our setter for a kennel. The birds seem 
perfectly fearless of the family and pay no at¬ 
tention whatever to the dog. The photograph 
was taken from the top of a ladder and not 
over ten feet away from the birds. If I were 
to make another house, it would not have more 
than three openings, and I would make the roof 
double with an air space between, so that the 
nests would be cooler. I have heard that the 
openings should always face south or east. 
Ours faces south, toward our dwelling, and is 
about one hundred feet away. The martins 
seem to prefer a house away from tall trees, and 
for a number of years have refused to occupy 
one that a neighbor built among some large 
elms. I have noticed this in different parts of 
the city. 
We have never had more than one pair build 
each year, I think because the number of bird 
houses is increasing faster than the supply of 
martins. They generally arrive some time be¬ 
tween April 14 and May 10, but it seems to take 
them two or three weeks to settle down and 
build. We consider them the most attractive 
of all our bird visitors and regret very much 
when they leave us, which is generally during 
the first ten days of August. They are very 
sociable and seem to enjoy having the family 
near them. I work in the garden right under 
them and they sit and chatter away, as if they 
were telling me all kinds of yarns. 
The sparrows bother us a good deal, and I 
keep a slat nailed over the openings in the 
house until the martins arrive; but in spite of 
rocks, .22 caliber bullets and bad names, the 
sparrows will build, and only yesterday I de¬ 
stroyed a sparrow’s nest, containing two eggs, 
that had been built within a week. After the 
martins once settle down and begin their nest, 
the sparrows do not dare to even perch within 
fifty feet of the house. One thing that always 
amuses us is to see the martins sit in perfect 
unconcern, while stones, etc., are thrown at 
the sparrows that may be sitting within a few 
feet of them. The martins do not seem to be 
a quarrelsome bird, and have no disputes with 
our other bird visitors. 
After a pair have their nest built, they are 
visited every day, about ii a. m. and 4 p. m. by 
four or five other martins, who stay and chatter 
for from five to fifteen minutes, and then go 
away. The photograph was taken during one 
of these receptions. After the young are pretty 
well grown they move out and each occupies 
a separate compartment. I have never noticed 
whether the old birds assist in the moving, as 
it always has been done in my absence. [See 
page 835.] 
Last year we went fishing the last of June 
and sent our setter away. When we returned 
a week later the young martins were still there, 
but we did not send for the dog for some weeks 
later. About a week after our return the young 
martins disappeared, and I felt sure some boys 
had gotten up and carried them off. I had a 
