^12 Gciicidl N^otc:i. I July 



Mr. Nuttall acutely observes in this relation : ist, that the congregating 

 propensity of this bird has "no relation with the usual motives to mi- 

 gration among other birds"; 2nd, "Nearly the whole species which at any 

 one time inhabit the continent are found together in the same place"; 

 and 3rd, "They do not fly from climate, as they are capable of enduring 

 its severity and extremes." These characteristics, being rendered the 

 more wonderful and effective by surpassing power of flight, enable tlie 

 Wild Pigeon to defy the petty limitations which environ and restrict other 

 migratory birds and even to set at nought the one law of nature which 

 beyond any other has proved itself most absolute, tyrasmical and mysteri- 

 ous, — the law of geographical distribution of species. 



Viewed from this standpoint we may regard the occurrence (.•>{ Ectofhtcs 

 migratoriHs on the Pacific Slope as a thing so natural that we wonder 

 why it never happened before. Indeed there should now be many of us 

 who doubt not that it has often happened, and who ask, on behalf of our 

 feathered cosmopolite, an ampler breeding range than the books accord, 

 making it from Ocean to Ocean, and from Mexico to Alaska. Despite 

 our attempts to bridge these gaps in the life-history of North American 

 birds, there yet exists in New World ornithology a terra i)icog)iita of no 

 small proportions, a fact that should not discourage, but inspire us all to 

 renewed endeavor. — Samuel N. Rhoads, Ilatfdoi/Jicld, N. 7- 



The Breeding Range of the Sparrow Hawk (^Falro sfarverins) in 

 Texas. — Fhat this bird is credited with "breeding in suitable localities 

 from Maine to California, and from the Fur Countries south into Mexico" 

 by old and undoubted authorities in ornithology is readily admitted. 

 That it is migratory in northeastern Texas, especially in Cooke County, 

 is proven from my note book showing its departure in April and May and 

 its return in July and August, for a number of consecutive years. 



The question then to be considered is, what constitutes a sidfitblc nest- 

 ing locality .'' I readily admit that I don't know. If a belt of timber 

 (post oak, black oak, elm, black walnut, black hickory, etc.) fifteen miles 

 wide and one hundred miles long is not suitable for the nesting of this 

 bird, then I need not expect its young to be raised in Cooke County. 



But Mr. Lloyd records its nesting in Tom Green County, Texas, where 

 the timber is more scrubby than in Cooke County. How is the bird's be- 

 havior in this matter to be reconciled with its not breeding in Cooke 

 County.'' I must again confess ignorance of the reason. The only place 

 I have personal knowledge of the birds' breeding in the State is in Polk 

 County, in the Pine Region of southeastern Texas. In April, 1SS9, I 

 saw the birds paired and entering holes in the dead pines, in such manner 

 that I felt convinced that they would remain during the season. Mr. [. A. 

 Singley, in Lee County, some seventy-five miles west of Polk County-, 

 writes me, "I have never found the Sparrow Hawk breeding in Texas or 

 Mexico." However, he has a report of its nesting in Lee County, in for- 

 mer years. A great many eastern 'species' of birds fail to penetrate the 

 dry plateau region of Texas. Many varieties (subspecies) of eastern forms. 



