6 THE AU,D USB OI NSB Ua es aie 
tipping and corralling in the same way as the swans were. Ned Barker 
Says wood duck, mallard, blue-winged and green-winged teal still breed 
both in captivity and in the wild. The shoveller or ‘“‘spoonbill’’ was 
not common at any time. The hooded merganser continues to nest in 
tree holes near the lake. The Canada goose, snow goose and blue 
goose are all recognized now as uncommon migrants. The Canada 
goose up to fifty years ago bred in the wild. (The last nest seen of 
a wild Canada goose was in 1895.) The blue goose and the snow 
goose bred at the lake only when corralled. The “brant,” as they 
called the white-fronted goose, was seen. Barker reports pintail or 
“spike-tail” still the commonest duck. The widgeon was reported 
by all the hunters of the olden days. As the lake became smaller all 
forms of water bird life became scarcer and some kinds ceased to 
breed there. 
Passenger pigeons passed over in great numbers and had both 
roosts and nesting areas thereabouts. The last live specimen he saw 
there was about 1900. “I can show you the osprey or fish hawk nest- 
ing along the river in Newton County in our summers, even now,” 
announced Mr. Barker. 
The red fox continues to be found in goodly numbers but is not 
so common as formerly and is, apparently, not so numerous today in 
Newton County as the wolf. There are still many fastnesses in this 
region that constitute favorable habitat for foxes and wolves. With 
the aid of two well-trained hounds Mr. Barker captures wolves through- 
out three Indiana counties neighboring Newton. He recognizes three 
kinds of wolves among those which he killed, the Michigan timber 
wolf of immense size and reddish ears, the gray timber wolf, a little 
smaller, and the coyote or prairie wolf which is so common. He re- 
ports having killed fifty-three wolves between April 1 and September 
1, 1934, for which he received a bounty. Wolves do not travel in 
packs, as was their habit formerly, but are most often encountered 
singly. The wolf seems to be holding its own in numbers in spite 
of increased human population and persecution through hunting and 
trapping within thirty miles of Chicago. 
Indianapolis, Indiana. 
During the last spring the writer saw in the garden of a friend 
a pure albino English sparrow. It was just as white as snow and had 
a pink bill. Thus it reminded one of the white form of the Java spar- 
row. While the writer was watching it, it was repeatedly attacked by 
other English sparrows whenever it made an attempt to fly up to a 
martin house that the other gray marauders had already usurped for 
their nests. The bird was still there in the fall—the first pure albino 
English sparrow the writer has seen. C.Weaen 
x * 
On November 14th Mr. C. Holcombe reported a mocking-bird at 
his banding station in Zion, Ill. The bird was first seen using his 
bird-bath on Sunday, November 12th. Mr. Holcombe is making every 
effort to trap and band this unusual visitor. 
