I picked this one up in my hand, it making no move to get away, but snuggled down quite content. After holding and examining it as long as I wished I again placed it on the ground and my, did it not scamper when it found itself free from all cover of any kind. It remembered that Mother had said hide and there it was without cover. The Ruffed Grouse often nest in the woods on my farm, sometimes I find the nest in the older and larger growth at the foot of some large tree, or under some upturned root again in the young but denser growth; a brush pile is a favorite nesting place, the nest being placed under the edge; once I found a nest in the midst of a blackberry bramble, and once, and the most exposed nest I ever found was on the top of a knoll in the open pasture. Samuels, in Birds of New England, reports receiving eggs from his collectors in Northern Maine which they declared to have been found in a crow's nest in a high pine. He also reports another occurrence of such matter from Pennsylvania. The nest is usually made of leaves, sometimes a little grass enters into its composition and a few feathers from the mother may be found in it. The cup of the nest is not large nor deep; a mere hollow. The egss vary in number, twelve might be called an average set. A nest found May 8, 1892 contained six eggs, others I have found contained twelve, fourteen and fifteen. A nest reported in the Ornithologist and Oologist, July 1891 issue contained twenty-one eggs, another found at Franklin, N. Y. May 14, 1902 contained a set of twenty of which seventeen hatched. (American Ornithology Vol. II). The color of a set of eggs of the Partridge now before me is a light buff, one of which is noticeably They lighter in color than others; over this ground work there is sprinkled minute spots or dots of light brown, at no point thick and most obscure. measure 1.50 X 1.25 inches. The Ruffed Grouse in spite of the increase of latin names, which are added to it every little while by the discovery of a new subspecies by the Bird Doctors has shown a very marked decrease in numbers in this locality and in Maine. The decrease has been most noticeable the last three years. This decrease, in my opinion, has been caused largely by cold, wet weather at hatching time; the eggs becoming chilled and from that reason failed to hatch, or if they did hatch the young became wet and chilled, this causing them to die. There has also been a gradual decrease each year as the state became more thickly settled; more land being cleared, therefore less cover and more hunters. This has been overcome to some extent by shorting of the open season by law. The flesh of the Partridge is most excellent to eat and is especially prescribed by physicians for invalids; of all wild game there is none better. All hunters of the Partridge are familiar with the 'whir' with which it rises from the ground on being flushed, often causing the startled novice to shoot wild; yet this bird can and does fly swiftly and silently as I have noted; wending its way through the forest and thickets without mishap. It has always been a mystery to me how a bird which flying with the speed it does between the trees of the forest without accident should so many times lose its life by flying against the side of a house or barn. I once saw such a mishap occur to a Partridge. A number of the boys who were attending a preparatory school situated in this town, were playing ball on the campus in the fall of the year; this bird came around the corner of the school building and flying over our heads struck the wall of a house near and was killed. My brother once caught alive a Partridge which flew into his woodshed. These accidents nearly always occur in the fall of the year during the open season and are perhaps caused by being frightened by hunters. The food of the Partridge consists of both animal and vegetable matter; they are fond of grasshoppers and I have often shot them along the sides of our country roads where they had come both to feed and to dust in the roadway. They also use the tops of ant hills and bare, dry knolls as dusting places; one finding these dusting places it is well to look there again on another day when in quest of game as they are much frequented. There is a small bush which bears light red berries growing wild here; this berry is often eaten and I have shot Partridges with the crop cramed full of them; later in the fall one will find them in the trees, budding yellow birches being the favorite; they also eat apple tree and rose buds. Birds Observed From Train, From Mr. G. E. Maxon and myself was going from Austin to Burnet on the H. & T. C. R. R. We observed many birds along the way. Mourning Doves were the most plentiful. I counted them up until I got to four hundred and still saw more along the route. Only one bunch of Texas Bob Whites were observed; there were ten of them. Six Ducks which looked to be Wedgions or Baldpates were seen as the train was speeding by a small shalow lake. Scissor Tailed Flycatchers was plentiful. I saw as many as thirty in one bunch. I kept count of them until I counted fifty. Twenty-two Lark Sparrows were ob served near the railroad. Sparrow Hawks were plentifully scattered through the country. Ten was counted and I saw more after I quit counting. Mocking Birds were not as plentiful as you would think. I only saw two along the route. Crows were noticed two and three at a time. Fifteen were counted. Two Sharp Shinned Hawks were noticed darting after Sparrows. White-rumped Shrieks was seen in singles. I saw four. Only one Meadow Lark was observed sitting on the fence wire beside the track. Through a thick brushy country I saw four Painted Bunting. Only one Dickcissel was observed. One Downey Wood Pecker. One Grasshopper Sparrow, two large Hawks were sighted in the distance, but I was unable to identify them. No Vultures was seen, to my surprise. But taking it altogether I think I got a pretty good list of birds along such a short route of three hour's travel. After reaching Burnet we got in the tin lizzie and hit it for Ft. Worth, Texas, some three hundred miles overland. Between Burnet and Lampassas we saw twenty Sparrow Hawks in one bunch. Sitting on telephone wires, fence posts, etc. Between Adamsville and Hamilton we passed through the best Vulture country that I ever witnessed. Vultures of both kinds were plentiful. The hills were high with plenty rock bluffs and cliffs for their nesting grounds. Near Walnut Springs, Texas, we came upon a six foot rattlesnake in the road. We got out and had a battle with him. He never attempted to get away, but give fight at once, as he was making a coil ready to spring at Mr. Maxon, a heavy rock hit him in the head and it was good-bye snake. We skinned him and will make it into a wall mount. Ramon Graham, Taxidermist, Ft. Worth, Texas. BIRD LIFE IN PORTO RICO. Needed Protection Suggested by Study of Department of Agriculture Specialists-Value of Birds as Destroyers of Injurious Insects Not Fully Appreciated. Washington, D. C.-Because of the damage done to the crops of Porto Rico by insect pests, a study of the birds of that Island has been completed by the U. S. Department of Agriculture, in co-operation with the Porto Rican Government. This study, the results of which are now published as Department Bulletin 326, "Birds of Porto Rico," was undertaken for the purpose of determining the relations of the birds to the insect fauna of the island, in order that suitable measures might be suggested for the protection and increase of insectivorous species. The investigators recorded 162 species and subspecies in Porto Rico and its dependent islands, while 16 others are included as hypothetical. Of the bona-fide forms, 94 breed on the island, 63 are visitants during migration, and 5 species, perhaps resident at one time, may be called accidental. On the average, about 30 species are found in reasonable numbers during summer in almost any inland locality on Porto Rico, and a few more North American migrants are added in winter. Near the coast these numbers are augmented somewhat by water birds. Certain areas are seemingly destitute of bird life, say the investigators, but to show that birds are more numerous in Porto Rico than is commonly supposed, two censuses were taken during the breeding season, in which accurate count was made of the numbers of species and individuals seen. At Yauco 391 birds belonging to 35 species were listed in four hours in traversing a distance of 5 miles. Near Lares 335 individuals of 27 species were seen on an area approximately the same size. As a result of examining the stomachs of more than 2,200 birds, the investigators found many varieties which feed upon the "changa," the sugar-cane root borer, the May beetle, and other destructive insect pests. The "changa," or mole cricket, without doubt one of the most injurious insects in Porto Rico, was found to be eaten by 21 species of birds. The sugar-cane root borer, known also as the orange leaf-weevil, was included in the dietary of 17 species. Among the common birds found in Porto Rico, the investigators found none which may be called wholly pernicious. The small bird-eating Accipiter is certainly injurious, and its larger relative, the red-tailed hawk, is troublesome when it acquires a taste for poultry. Certain other species, while to some extent destructive, make up for their damage in other ways. It is asserted that birds do some damage to ripening coffee berries by eating the sweet pulp surrounding the inner berry, but as yet this charge is unsubstantiated. The damage, says bulletin, is apparently done by rats which, being unseen, are not suspected, the birds getting the blame for the misdeeds of the rodents. Many species of birds, such as woodpeckers, flycatchers, cuckoos, and others, are of great benefit in the coffee plantations. A few birds, the oriole and spindalis, for instance, were seen eating oranges, but in every case they attacked only wild fruit that was dead ripe and beginning to soften. The honey creeper came to sip the juice when the oranges were once broken open. Quail-doves pecked open the rotting sweet oranges for the seeds as they lay on the ground, but no birds were found attacking sound cultivated fruit in the citrus groves. Insectivorous species in feeding about the trees destroy in |