THE OOLOGIST. 



35 



also eaten but I foi;nd the meat rather 

 stringy, much like boiled beef, but 

 coarser. 



This species is given to assembling in 

 the mating season and going through 

 peculiar antics, rather like the move- 

 ments of the prairie hen, if I can make 

 the comparison. These motions are 

 called dancing and the meets are 

 known as Crane balls. Once when on 

 a tramp in Illinois, nearly a quarter of 

 a century ago, I witnessed a ludicrous 

 scene of this nature, and the perform- 

 ance was the most entertaining that I 

 have ever seen among our birds. 



Kalamazoo, Mich. 



Red-shouldered Hawk in Western 

 New York. 



In my list of the Birds of Western 

 New York (page 10 of the 2d edition) 

 occurs the following in regard to this 

 species: 



"The most common of our larger 

 Hawks. Breeding in all suitable plac- 

 es." This statement has been criticised 

 and I wish to make a few explanations. 



In the constitution of the "Western 

 New York Naturalists' Association" 

 western New York is defined as the 13 

 western counties, east to, and includ- 

 ing Wayne, Ontario and Steuben, and 

 my list was intended to cover that ter- 

 ritory. 



My own personal observations were 

 all made in Monroe county up to the 

 time of the 3d edition. I knew at that 

 time that in Mr. Davison's "List of Ni- 

 agara County Birds, etc.," this bird 

 was not mentioned, also that Mr. Pos- 

 son in his list of Orleans County Birds 

 says "rare''' and mentions only one 

 taken, but I certainly under-estimated 

 the importance of these facts. Mr. 

 Posson has kindly furnished me with 

 additional quotations as follows, from 

 Bergtold's "List of Birds of Buffalo, 

 etc.," '■'occasional resident;^' from Lan- 

 gille's "Our Birds in Their Haunts," 



"either rare or overlooked.'" Mr. Langille 

 I believe confined most of his observa- 

 tions to Niagara and the western por- 

 tion of Orleans county. 



If I am right in this the territory is 

 practically the same as given in lists of 

 Messrs. Davison and Posson. Now go- 

 ing eastward I have reported to me as 

 follows: 



Town of Clarendon on eastern edge 

 of Orleans county five sets of Red- 

 shouldered and only one of Red-tail; 

 town of Sweden, Monroe county, five 

 sets of Red-shouldered, no mention of 

 Red-tail; from town of Chili, Monroe 

 county, nine sets of Red-shouldered 

 and one set of Red-tailed. This cov- 

 ered eight years' collecting. From On- 

 tario county I have evidence of the oc- 

 cui-rence of both species, but nothing to 

 show which was most common. 



Last season I spent in the town of 

 Gaines, Orleans Co., and did not see 

 any Red-shouldered Hawks. Now is it 

 not possible that we have here a fine 

 exhibition of local distribution, one of 

 these large Hawks prevailing in the ex- 

 treme western counties replaced (in 

 some localities almost entirely) by the 

 other, in the eastern portion of our 

 field. Of course, more evidence would 

 be welcome, especially from Chautau- 

 qua, Wayne and Livingstone counties. 



If this proves to be the case I would 

 amend my list as follows: "Buteo lin- 

 eatus. Common in the eastern coun- 

 ties, very rare in the western ones." 

 Respectfully submitted, 



Ernest H. Short. 



Red-headed Woodpecker. 



June 6, 1895. I went to a piece of 

 woods near this place for a few sets of 

 Red- headed Woodpecker [Melanerpes 

 erythrocephalus). As I entered the 

 woods I saw a hole in an old oak stub 

 which looked suspicious, so I hit the 

 stub with my -hatchet, when promptly 

 a Red-head looked out and seeing me 



