THE OOLOGIST 



both big and little. Before he was 

 fairly started, I sent the sixes at his 

 big head and he was mine without a 

 kick. 



It was a nice specimen and in fine 

 plumage and measured six feet eleven 

 inches in expanse. The BB's I found 

 on skinning had probably fatally hurt 

 the bird, but it would probably have 

 escaped me entirely if the sixes had 

 not done the work. The strange part 

 of it was that a crow had got caught 

 and the eagle going to the bait had 

 killed the crow and when I shot was 

 eating it. The body was about half 

 eaten and quite warm. 



Next day I saw a large bird flopping 

 about in the trap so I went over and 

 found a big black hawk that proved 

 to be a Harlan's. The next day I had 

 to take up my trap as I was getting 

 ready to leave for home. Before tak- 

 ing it up a big Red-tail got in. This 

 red-tail was an adult; quite light-col- 

 ored underneath with hardly any 

 markings. Its mate I flushed and shot 

 from a bend in the gully. This one 

 had killed a rabbit on which it was 

 feasting when shot. 



From this experience I concluded 

 that if I could have staid a little long- 

 er and put out six or eight baits, 

 more than one eagle would have 

 come back with me. 



While there the last week in Sep- 

 tember there was a flight of Swain- 

 son's Hawks. I saw as many as fifty 

 three in one flock. They were not 

 very shy and I shot a number in dif- 

 ferent plumage. They fed entirely on 

 grasshoppers. I never saw such num- 

 bers of hawks as during the week they 

 were about. 



R. B. SIMPSON. 



The Migrant Shrike? 

 The reading of Mr. Leach's letter 

 in the December Oologist set me to 



thinking about the old puzzle "Which 

 shirke is it?" 



For several years past I have seen 

 and collected the eggs of our com- 

 mon shirke, calling it Lanius ludovlcla- 

 nus excubitorides; sets of six being 

 almost always found here in first sets. 

 On looking over back files of the Oolo- 

 gist I have found that there is some 

 confusion on the shrike question. 



In the December, 1904, Oologist, Mr. 

 C. P. Alexander writes a rather long 

 and interesting article on the White- 

 rumped Shrike, telling of finding sev- 

 eral nests near Gloversville, N. Y. 

 All the notes he makes tally with my 

 experience of the common shrike. He 

 closes thanking "Mr. Benjamin Hoag 

 for identifying properly these birds 

 from descriptions I sent him." 



In the Oologist for December, 1906, 

 Editor Short says, in answer to R. F. 

 M. who asks whether it is the White- 

 rumped Shrike or the Loggerhead in 

 Hennepin County, Minnesota: "The 

 two forms unquestionably intergrade 

 in Southern Xew York, Northern Penn- 

 sylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Illinois 

 and Nebraska." Short further says, 

 "We draw a line (to divide the species) 

 from Connecticut westerly through 

 Southern New York, Northern Penn- 

 sylvania and Northern Ohio straight 

 to the Rockies." 



In the December, 1907, Oologist, I 

 find this from Mr. Alexander again: 

 "On May 5, near Gloversville, I found 

 a nest of Migrant Shrike in a thorn 

 apple tree, ten feet up, containing six 

 eggs." In parenthesis Editor Short 

 asks, "Was this bird not Excubitor- 

 ides?" (White-rumped Shrike.) 



Now Editor Barnes briefly tells Mr. 

 Leach that his birds are Migrant 

 Shrikes, thereby endorsing what L. A. 

 Fuertes had previously told Leach. 



Is there not someone who can speak 

 as one having authority about these 

 birds, this newly-made variety? I 

 think many would like to have this 

 question settled for good. 



R. T. FULLER, Lacona, New York. 



