
Jan. 1886.] 
AND OOLOGIST. Et 


OOLOGY. 
J. PARKER NORRIS, EDITOR. 

In this department it is proposed to record observa- 
tions in that important branch of the science of 
Bird Life—Oology—and request the favors of our 
contributors, as an assistance to our efforts; for it 
is only by opinions, gathered from various expert- 
ences, that we can achieve any definite result in as- 
certaining what natural law governs a science, so 
replete with variations and interesting phenomena 
as Oology. 
Mr. Oliver Davie, of Columbus, Ohio, sends 
the first sixteen pages (advance sheets) of his new 
Egg Check List and Key to the Nests and Eggs of 
North American Birds, which will be ready 
about the first of February next. It will contain 
between 180 and 200 pages octavo, and will be 
illustrated by seven full-page engravings of birds 
and their nests. The descriptions are much fuller 
and more satisfactory than in the first edition, and 
much new material is added. This will be found 
especially noticeable in many species where de- 
scriptions are for the first time given of the nests 
and eggs of very rare birds. The nomenclature 
adopted is that of Mr. Ridgway ; and the work is 
presented in very neat form, and will be welcom- 
ed by many. When it is published it will be 
more fully noticed in these columns. 
——___——__—_- 
The Eggs of the White-tailed Hawk. 

Not finding any account of the eggs of this 
beautiful Hawk (Buteo albicaudatus,) in any work 
with which the present writer is acquainted, it 
has occurred to him that a description of them 
would be welcome to the readers of THE Or- 
NITHOLOGIST AND OOLOGIST. 
Early in the spring of 1884, a party of gentle- 
men consisting of Messrs. G. B. Benners, W. H. 
Werner and T. 8. Gillen, went on a collecting 
tour to Texas. While there they secured many 
rare birds and eggs. Among the species found 
nesting near Corpus Christi was the White-tailed 
Hawk. The country about there is destitute of 
any high trees, and this fact caused the Hawks to 
choose curious nesting places for Buteos. In the 
Eastern States, and wherever they have been 
molested, this genus select lofty trees, often 
seventy or more feet from the ground, on which 
to build their nests; but near Corpus Christi the 
Buteo albicaudatus found this neither possible nor 
necessary. 
A set of two eggs collected by Mr. Gillen, on 
May 2, 1884, were laid in a nest on the top ofa 
chapparal bush, only seven feet from the ground. 
Think of that, J. M. W., and others who esteem 
it nothing to toil up some tall chestnut tree sev- 
enty or eighty feet to secure a set of the common 
Buteo borealis or lineatus! These rare eggs could 
be lifted out of the nest by a tall man while stand- 
ing on the ground. 
Two eggs were the usual number found, al- 
though sometimes three are laid. The present 
set (which are in the cabinet of a gentleman in 
Philadelphia,) were perfectly identified, as both of 
the parent birds were shot. They were found in 
a nest made of sticks, and lined with short dry 
grass. The eggs exhibit almost no variation in 
size, one of them measuring 2.20 by 1.80, and the 
other 2.19 by 1.80. In appearance, however, they 
are quite different, as one is almost entirely un- 
spotted, and the other faintly marked all over its 
surface with very light brown spots. The ground 
color in both is of a light greyish white, and the 
egg which is almost entirely unspotted has a few 
faint streaks of very light brown at the smaller end. 
The shell is exactly like that which is typical of 
Buteo borealis, and the shape is similar to the 
ordinary one for the latter bird. 
It would be well if those who own sets of eggs 
of Buteo albicaudatus would send descriptions of 
them to THE ORNITHOLOGIST AND OoLoaist for 
publication, in order that a comparison with those 
described above might be made. 
The Number of Eggs Laid by Hawks 
and Owls. 


The number of eggs laid by birds of the Order 
Raptores has been subject to more mis-statement 
than any others. The tendency seems to have 
been to exaggerate their number, rather than to 
understate it, though errors in this direction 
have beenfrequent. Thus the Great Horned Owl, 
(Bubo virginianus), is said by many writers to lay 
from three to six eggs, while the real number is 
only two or three; and it is doubtful if more than 
three have ever been found in one nest. The 
Swallow-tailed Kite, (Hlanoides forficatus), never 
lays more than two eggs, but their number has 
been given for years as being from four to six. 
Coues states that the nest complement of eggs of 
the Caracara Eagle, (Polyborus cheriway), is two, 
but sets of three are as often met with as the for- 
mer number. The Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo bore- 
alis) more commonly. lays two than three eggs, 
yet Audubon stated that ‘‘ the female lays four or 
five.’ The Broad-winged Hawk, (Buteo pennsyl- 
vanicus), usually lays three or four, sometimes only 
two, but their number is given as high as five by 
