12 TH Ee ACU DU BION] BAU sis i aie 
routine of civilian life. In the meantime there are still some in service 
and we are always glad to hear from them with comments on what they 
are seeing. 
George Kent, according to a letter recently received, was in Leyte at 
the end of November, 1945, but expected to be returned to the States before 
this time. That he was still interested in the birds is shown by the following 
excerpts from his letter: 
“T am 20 miles farther south of Tacloban than I was before. We are 
on a beach facing Leyte Gulf, and behind us is a swamp. Being away 
from town makes it better for birdlife. Since coming here I have seen a 
number of new birds, about ten that I hadn’t seen before on this island, 
and almost every day a new one pops out of the swamp. We are isolated, 
also, so all in all there are more birds around. 
“In getting here we have to go through a swampy area, with coconut 
trees and palms and thick grasses. I have seen several rails run across 
the road, and a gallinule which may be the purple swamphen, as spoken 
of in ‘Birds of the Southwest Pacific’; it looks like the description given 
of it. Another similar to one the book describes looks very much like and 
is the size of the Coucol family. Still another I saw today looked like the 
myna, but until I can get a book on Philippine birds I shall just have to 
wait to see what they are. 
“Along the river the other day I saw several sandpipers, and from the 
swamp back of us come various sounds of the birds in it. One sounds like 
a bittern or some of the rails. Several days I had been hearing what 
sounded like our bluebird, when one day I glimpsed a small azure-blue bird, 
slightly smaller than our bluebird, as it flew out of the swamp. Whether 
that was the bird that gave the song I heard, I do not know. 
“All fresh water, swamps, and such areas are hosts of a small parasite, 
Schistosoma Japonaca (blood fluke), which causes a very dangerous disease 
that attacks the liver and stomach. So we all have to keep out of the 
swamps. That is why I haven’t been able to go into them and investigate 
the sounds. I should like to find out what makes them all, but shall have 
to satisfy myself with what I can see flying out.”’ 
ft ft fT 
Unusual Winter Birds 
SOME VERY INTERESTING REPORTS have been received during the fall and 
winter observations of birds not commonly seen in northern Illinois. The 
most spectacular of these concerns the snowy owl, which is being seen this 
year in one of its cyclical migrations. During periodic seasons of scarcity 
of its usual food, principally mice, lemmings and rabbits, the snowy owl 
ranges south from Arctic Canada to our northern states, and this is one 
of those seasons. Being large birds, nearly snow-white, and feeding during 
daylight rather than at night as do other owls, they are readily seen. One 
stayed in Chicago on Northerly Island, south of the Planetarium, for several 
days. Two were seen in Indiana Dunes Park. That they have come down 
in considerable numbers is shown by a Michigan report which states that 
