May 1891.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



75 



of observation were keen, and lie took a deep 

 interest in tlie habits of Ijirds, which he studied 

 closely and intelligently. In short he was un- 

 mistakably a good ^>/(? naturallxf. 



It is unnecessary for me to dwell further on 

 this point, for Mr. Gaboon's ability, both as an 

 observer and recorder of birds' haliits, is 

 already sufficiently attested by the articles 

 which he has contributed to the O. ife O. Of bis 

 personal characteristics I should say the most 

 striking were his exceptionally cheerful, san- 

 guine temi)eramcnt, his trusting, warm-hearted 

 disposition, and his intense conscientiousness. 

 These (jualities are sure to entitle any man to 

 respect and confidence, and that Mr. Gaboon 

 won the entire respect and confidence of all 

 who knew him well cannot be doubted. His 

 untimely and sad end is sure to be widely and 

 sincerely mourned. William Breicster. 



In the Auk, Vol. V, Xo. 1, pp. 03 and 94, are 

 recorded two new species taken by Gaboon and 

 named by Mr. Brewster in his honor: Aimo- 

 pliila cahooni, Gaboon's SiJarrow, and Trn- 

 (/lodytrs rahooni, Gaboon's Wren. 



Returning, he had a great desire to build a 

 bouse on Monomoy. This he accomplished 

 almost single-handed. Well does the writer 

 remember a delightful week in his company at 

 the place, and the outcome was the 



MO.VOMOy BlilSTOI, TiHANTIX(i ( I.UI!. 



Sad, sad will be the meeting of the club at 

 that island home in the midsummer of '01. 



In ISSO he made his first trip to Newfound- 

 land. Of this we have no notes, a binding 

 contract preventing him from making bis cus- 

 tomary commtmications to the O. & O., the 

 only item being the story of why Gaboon was 

 known as the Bird Island man.* 



Returning from Newfoundland he started 

 for Brownsville, Texas, to take the place of the 

 lamented E. C. Greenwood (another intrepid 

 collector). He was taken .sick on the voyage, 

 and reaching Texas returned at once, not visi t- 

 ing Brownsville. Again be bade us farewell 

 and started for Xewfoimdland. He was to 

 have returned in the f ill, but concluded, his 

 conhact expiring, to remain another year. 



In a letter received from him a few days 

 before the report of the accident he writes: 

 "I have collected a few King Eiders. I tell 

 you, if I get their weight in gold it woidd not 

 pay for the risks I take. Think of crawling 

 out of bed before daylight, tramping, sliding 

 and ijulling along the cliffs, ami lying on the 

 icy rocks until every part of the Ijody is chilled 



• See Vol. XV, Xo. 8. ji. 120. 



to the bone, then having a sea break over onto 

 you, and returning to the bouse with boots and 

 clothes frozen stiff." 



We could quote from many letters like the 

 following: 



"St. Johns, Newfoi'xdi.axd. 



" Wc deeply regi-et the death of Mr. Gaboon. 

 . . . The writer always enjoyed seeing him. 

 His fearlessness and coolness in danger were 

 deserving of the highest admiration. . . . All 

 those who have come in contact with him here 

 felt the greatest sorrow at his untimely end, 

 and the people on the shore where he had 

 spent so long a time had an unbounded liking 

 and admiration for him. A. H. it Go." 



A good boatman, a determined collector, a 

 dead shot, of a kind and joyous disposition, 

 honest, brave and accommodating, — a typical 

 American collector. F. B. W. 



Notes on Egg Coloration. 



In the interesting article on "Egg Golor- 

 ation" In the April O. & O. Mr. Norris men- 

 tions the theory that the more heavily marked 

 eggs of a set are laid first, and then cites two 

 exceptions. 



Let me add a third. On April 10, 1888, I 

 flushed a female Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo 

 lineatus) from her nest near Lake Konomoc, 

 New London Go., Gonn. As the nest was in a 

 rather exposed position I took the single egg, 

 vv'hicb was nearly spherical, and without a 

 trace of markings. On April 1:5th I climbed to 

 the same nest and took from it an egg of 

 exactly the same shape and ground color as the 

 first egg, but which had a very few round red 

 dots on it. These dots are about the size of 

 an ordinary pin-bead. 



Finally, on April 21st, I took two more eggs 

 from this nest, both having the same shape 

 and ground color as had Nos. 1 and 2, Ijut No. 

 :5 was sparingly spotted with irregular ilots of 

 red, while No. 4 was spotted and l)lotcbed. I 

 should have said that the giound color was 

 a peculiar bluish-white, very much the color of 

 the egg of the Gooper's Hawk (Accipiter 

 cooperi). 



Unfortunately, the set is in my cabinet at 

 New London, so my descriptions are from 

 memory and are not as good as could be desired. 

 However, they are fairly accurate, and will 

 serve to bring out the desired point. 



I am of the opinion that, in eggs of a uni- 

 form color, any variation from normal is shown 

 in all of the eggs of that clutch, but my obser- 

 vations have not been sufficiently extended to 



