66 



THE OOLOGIST 



brown, varying from almost black to 

 a rich Vandyke; the smaller egg had 

 lighter shades of brown rather evenly 

 distributed over the entire surface, 

 in smaller spots. The eggs are not in 

 my possession, and I have forgotten 

 the measurements, but the larger of 

 the two was rather large for this spe- 

 cies and was an unusually handsome 

 egg. Incubation had just begun and 

 I blew them through 1-16-inch holes, 

 first cutting the lining neatly with 

 a small curved knife which I made from 

 an embryo hook. 



The nest was a ' beautiful affair of 

 rather small sticks and Spanish moss, 

 lined and gaily festooned with the lat- 

 ter. It was about 24-inches in diame- 

 ter and fully one foot thick, depth in- 

 side about three inches, a very sym- 

 metrical and compact " structure — a 

 better grade of workmanship than I 

 have ever seen in any kind of hawk 

 nest, or any other kind of nest of so 

 large a size, except, perhaps, one of 

 an American Raven which I found in 

 the mountains of New Mexico. 



First and last, I have collected quite 

 a few sets of this species, but this was 

 the worst climb I ever had. The ma- 

 jority of the nests in this locality, 

 Tyler County, are placed in tall pines, 

 seldom below 100 feet from the 

 ground. The one referred to above 

 was just 155 feet up, as I determined 

 by tying a knot in the string with 

 which the eggs were lowered and later 

 measured — ^the string. 



Fifteen or twenty years ago, Swal- 

 low-tails were very abundant here, so 

 much so in fact, as to be regarded as a 

 nuisance on account of their fondness 

 for young Mockingbirds. I have seen 

 them rob these nests dozens of times, 

 but never saw them pilfer any other 

 kind of bird's nest. They are very 

 fond of young wasps. They will swoop 

 down and pluck a wasp nest with 

 their claws and eat the young wasps 



at leisure as they float around in the 

 air. Small green snakes and chame- 

 leons, Anolis, also figure prominently 

 in their bill of bare. The birds are 

 getting rare here now. Have never 

 known them to occupy the same nest- 

 ing site twice. 



E. F. Pope. 

 Colmesneil, Texas. 



From Utah. 



According to promise in The Oolo- 

 gist of January 15th, I again show up 

 as I am some 3000 feet higher as to al- 

 titude, not in stature — being only five 

 feet four. 



Leaving our camp of yesterday 

 (June 1, 1911) as recorded in my pre- 

 vious letter, we make an early get 

 away, up at 5 a. m. After a hasty 

 breakfast we soon had our harness 

 en, and material necessary for collect- 

 or's outfit in Utah, which consisted 

 at the time of a U. S. knapsack well 

 filled with provender fan essential), a 

 Tommy hatchet, pruning shears, an- 

 other essential to the Oologist, saw 

 and climbers. We started for the up- 

 per zone of the Tintic range which is 

 some two miles East of camp. 



The sloping hills spoken of before 

 comes to an abrupt end, when we 

 reach the foot of this precipitous part 

 of the earth, "The Tintic Range," and 

 where one is fortunate to find water 

 to drink. 



On the way to the foot of the range, 

 on the S. W. slope of an abrupt bluff, 

 a Western Flycatcher, with a set of 

 four fresh eggs, in a cavity of an old. 

 half dead, scraggy Cedar, six feet up. 



F'arther along on the steep side of a 

 deep arroyo stood a lonely Pine on 

 which was seen a male Sparrow 

 Hawk, perched on its topmost branch 

 on guard. On examination we find 

 a large portion of the tree had been 

 burned out many years ago. One lit- 

 tle Hawk had a finely marked set of 



