THE OOLOGIST 



61 



June, and the complement of eggs 

 varies from four to nine; five, six and 

 seven are the usual number, however, 

 they indue more to the gray buffs for 

 back ground than to the brownish or 

 yellowish buffs, and are just as variable 

 in patterns of spotting as the King 

 and Clapper Rails. The spots average 

 larger than the majority of the later, 

 and the shell markings are quite 

 lavender, warm browns, chestnut and 

 purplish tones predominate. 



As many of the tide lands have with- 

 in the last few years been reclaimed, 

 the breeding grounds of the species 

 has been sadly cut down The birds 

 do not seem to be able to adapt them- 

 selves to the cha'nged conditions and 

 as a result, to cite one particular in- 

 stance, where I found close to a dozen 

 nests one year; this last year there 

 was absolutely no trace of the birds 

 in the surrounding country, the old 

 nesting grounds being under some 

 three or four feet of mud and sand 

 from the dredger operations. 



I still hope to find some of these in- 

 teresting birds nesting along the coast 

 of Lower California', but there, as in 

 this section the coasts are mainly 

 rocky with very few lagoons suitable 

 for the requiremnts of this species. A 

 close associate of the Light-footed Rail 

 is the Belding's Marsh Sparrow and 

 they nest in the same situations, but 

 as they are not so dependent on the 

 close proximity of water they will un- 

 doubtedly move farther back from the 

 coast line and adapt themselves better 

 to the changed conditions as it affects 

 them. 



H. Arden Edwards, 

 Box 284, R. R. 1, 

 Los Angeles, Cal. 



It had been a' very cold day, and on 

 our return to the house at dusk our 

 first thought was for a good fire, and 

 I went to the woodpile for an armful 

 of wood. As I took up a piece of fire- 

 wood something flopped down beside 

 me from the woodpile. I was rather 

 startled and knocked it down with the 

 piece of firewood. It got up and 

 flopped past my partner who dropped 

 it again with another stick. It proved 

 to be a' fine specimen of the Golden 

 Eagle, spreading about seven feet. I 

 cannot account for its presence on our 

 woodpile, unless it was attracted by 

 offal from ducks and geese we had 

 cleaned a short distance away. Cer- 

 tainly is was about the last place i 

 would have thought of finding an 

 Eagle. 



A. D. Henderson, 

 Belvedere, Alberta. 



AN EAGLE ON THE WOODPILE 



On November 15, 1900 my partner 

 and I went to cut out a piece of trail 

 near our ranch on the Pembina River. 



THE MARSH HAWK 



Until today, March 17th, 1922, I have 

 never thought the Marsh Hawk was 

 capable of capturing Quail or Part- 

 ridge. These Hawks ha'd always 

 seemed too slow and dilatory to me to 

 be able to take anything but mice, 

 snakes or young birds. 



This morning about 8:30 a. m. I saw 

 a Marsh Hawk kill and carry with the 

 greatest ease a Hungarian Partridge, 

 which was a full grown heavy bird. I 

 ran to the spot where the Hawk alight- 

 ed and flushed her, leaving her prey 

 behind. I then waited several minutes 

 until she flew to a clover field nearby, 

 when I ran to the house about 80 rods 

 away to get three rat traps to trap her. 



Before I got back she had returned 

 and carried the Partridge about 

 thirty rods farther north in the corn 

 field. 



As I did not know exactly where tc 

 find the Partridge I went away for 

 about half an hour and then proceeded 

 for the spot where I thought I would 



