BREEDING. ; 7 



is rare, because one or two records of its appearance in a 

 year is all my books show. 



"Casual," as used in this catalogue, means that the species 

 to which it is applied visits the state only under unusual 

 circumstances. Thus, the Great Qray Owl could not be ex- 

 pected to reach Ohio except during an unusually severe win- 

 ter when its food supply north failed. Casual stands close 

 to accidental. A Red-tailed Hawk would be casual in a 

 small city 'park, because that park lies within its range in 

 the surrounding region. A Bullock Oriole would be acci- 

 dental there because its home is in regions far removed. 



In the use of any of these terms except "Casual," account 

 must be taken of the habits of the birds. The Red-winged 

 Blackbird may be abundant in the marshes of any county, 

 but practically absent from the rest of that county. In the 

 body of the work I have endeavored to indicate what are 

 the regions preferred by the different species. Account 

 must also be taken of the size of the birds to which the 

 terms are applied in each instance. Thus a dozen Red- 

 tailed Hawks in a township would make that hawk appear 

 almost abundant, while a dozen Chipping Sparrows or 

 Robins in that same township would be almost rare for the 

 species. 



Some prophet must arise who will be able to develop a 

 system of relative terms for general use. Such a system 

 is greatly needed in the further development of the depart- 

 ment of field ornithology. 



BREEDING. 



Not the least difficult of the problems presenting them- 

 selves for solution has been that relating to the breeding of 

 many species within the state. So little was known of the 

 general breeding range of many species when Dr. Wheaton 

 completed his work, that it is not strange that he should 

 have regarded as "probably breeding in the northern parts 

 of the state" several species whose breeding range lies well 

 to the north. It is also more than probable that several 

 species which remained to breed before the state became 



