THE OOLOGIST 



53 



winter in that country — four of his as- 

 sistants started on a sled journey to 

 observe the incubation of the Emper- 

 or Penguin. That a fortnight was 

 taken in the journey necessary to 

 reach their rookery; that the temper- 

 ature ranged between sixty and seven- 

 ty degrees below zero, the lowest 

 seventy-seven below. That compara- 

 tively few birds were found at the 

 rookery but they had already begun 

 to lay eggs, and a number of eggs in 

 different stages of incubation were se- 

 sured. 



It makes the average searcher for 

 rare warblers' eggs in June, shiver to 

 think of a trip of this character. — Ed. 



Large Set of Cuckoo. 



Jun'e 3, 1912 while Mr. R. C. Har- 

 low and myself were looking for nests 

 near here we found a Black-billed 

 Cuckoo at home on seven eggs. Be- 

 fore she flushed we noticed that she 

 seemed to sit rather high and on look- 

 ing in we were certainly surprised to 

 find the nest actually full of eggs. 

 They all looked like the laying of one 

 bird. 



There is usually a full set here. 

 Sometimes four. Have never before 

 personally found one with over four 

 and think this must be a record. 



R. B. Simpson. 

 Warren, Pa. 



Just Notes. , 



I have not seen much out of the 

 ordinary the past season, but as usual- 

 ly is the case, every year brings forth 

 some interesting occurrence. 



On April 18th while out looking up 

 nests of the Red-shouldered Hawk, we 

 flushed a crow off her nest. My com- 

 panion climbed the nest, and at first 

 said there was nothing in it. How- 

 ever, feeling around some more he 

 brought out a small egg which proved 

 to be that of a crow, and just the size 



of our Robin's egg. We took this egg. 



Again on May 4th while rounding 

 up a hawk's nest, in the same woods, 

 we were surprised to flush a crow off 

 the same nest. My companion again 

 climbed to the nest and was surprised 

 to find three more crow's eggs. One 

 was just a trifle larger than the first 

 mentioned. Another was about twice 

 as large as the first, and the last was 

 a normal egg. The smallest egg only 

 had the white in it, and the others 

 were advanced in incubation. This 

 set, which I prize very highly, is now 

 in my collection. 



Also I will mention another pecu- 

 liar incident which happened this fall 

 on a hunting trip of mine. I was 

 spending my Thanksgiving vacation 

 at Fair Haven on Lake Ontario on a 

 duck hunt. On Thanksgiving after- 

 noon when stooling in Fair Haven Bay 

 a bird came into my decoys that ap- 

 peared nearly white. I shot it, and 

 when I got it in my hands I did not 

 what I had shot. I knew it was a 

 Grebe of some kind, but did not know 

 the species on account of the color. 

 Brought the bird home, and my father 

 at once identified it as a Holboell's 

 Grebe, not only a good record in it- 

 self in this locality, but a half albino. 

 The breast normal; head and neck a 

 little lighter than usual. Back nearlv 

 all white. Not the glossy white of 

 the breast, but the white common to 

 albinistic forms. The wings were uni- 

 formly marked with white and were 

 mostly of the latter color. A very 

 pretty bird, and is now in my father's 

 collection. 



In the spring of 1912 I took 48 eggs 

 of the Red-shouldered Hawk. I am 

 making a specialty of this bird and 

 eggs. Carl F. Wright. 



Auburn, N. Y. 



About Barn Owls. 

 Since reading the Hawk and Owl 



