THE OOLOOIST. 



Mr. Soper was told, "is that you con- 

 tinue offering these things for sale 

 after they have been branded as 

 false by experts. They claim it would 

 ■be for the betterment of all true ar- 

 chaeological research were you to de- 

 fer making a business out of these 

 finds until the general condemnation 

 of them as fakes is cleared up." 



"They are genuine." 



" 'How is it,' Mr. Soper, that these 

 things, so necessarily ancient if gen- 

 uine, antedating even the discovery 

 of America and the Christian era, lie 

 so near the surface?" 



Scotford's affidavit regarding the 

 finds was that they lay 16 inches be- 

 low the sod. 



"I cannot tell that," said Soper, 

 "unless it is by some freak of na- 

 ture." 



"Where did you get all these 

 things?" 



"Oh, from Scotford and others.' 



Soper refused to say where it was 

 "near Detroit" that one of the big 

 discoveries was made. They were 

 found all right, and witnessed, he 

 claimed, but was silent as to further 

 particulars. 



Soper gave A. B. Covert, of the Cin- 

 cinnati university, a good name, and 

 said he was deeply interested in de- 

 tecting frauds. As for Scotford, he 

 said: 



Scotford "Just Found Them." 

 "He's a simple old man who has no 

 interest in these things — just happen- 

 ed to find them." 



Soper has not been left in the dark 

 by the curator of the Wisconsia socie- 

 ty, Charles E. Brown, as the follow- 

 ing letter of Nov. 1 shows: 



To Daniel E. Soper, Esq.: Dear 

 Sir — The pottery pipe and copper 

 tablet belonging to yourself and 

 which Mr. Hamilton submitted to 

 me some time ago, and which I 

 have since at his request return- 



ed to you, are frauds. Others to 



whom I have shown them concur 



with me in this decision. Have 



you any affidavits? 



C. E. BROWN." 



The above extracts are sufficient to 

 explain the case. 



The "Oologist" can not spare room 

 for all of the interesting article but 

 we advise collectors of cop'per relics 

 who have captured Michigan finds to 

 obtain a copy of the Detroit News for 

 Nov. 14, 19'07 and ascertain whether 

 any of their prizes bear the "cabalis- 

 tic" sign that the Soper, Scotford, Co- 

 vert combine decorated their finds 

 with. 



Several years ago many of us 

 became too intimately acquainted 

 with Mr. Covert for our own good but 

 the Editor of the Oologist at least had 

 hopes that he had gone out of busi- 

 ness. 



Ernest H. Short. 



Two Seasons With The Swainson 

 Hawks. 



Out beyond the vineyards and or- 

 chards as one travels toward the 

 southwest from Fresno is a broad al- 

 kali plain while still farther on the 

 road leads' into a fertile area extend- 

 ing away on the south toward Sum- 

 mit Lake, while westward may be 

 seen the Coast Range Mountains. Sev- 

 eral large irrigating canals or sloughs 

 trail across the country, their wind- 

 ing course marked by the rather thin 

 fringe of large willow trees that 

 grows on their banks. Here and there 

 over the wheat fields the form of a 

 lone willow or cottonwood tree rises 

 to break the monotony of the land- 

 scape and add a touch of color to the 

 scene. 



Here it was that I first became ac- 

 quainted with the S'wainson Hawks 

 (Buteo swainsoni) on their chosen 

 nesting grounds. I had at times, dur- 

 ing the spring, seen these hawks cir- 



