164 



ORl^ITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 12-:N'o. 10 



I will pay a visit to the same locality on 

 another year for the special purpose of taking 

 nests, eggs and birds of this species. 



A few remarks may not be out of order on 

 some of the birds given in Mr. G. B. Benner's 

 list, Nos. 4, 5 and 6, and that of Mr. Harry P. 

 Atwater in Nos. 7 and 8 of current volume of 

 O. AND O. Mr. Benuers gives Dendrceca domin- 

 ica as occuring in Comal County. It is un- 

 doubtedly D. d. albilora as they occur here. I 

 have taken several of them, and one of them of 

 which I was doubtful I sent to Mr. George B. 

 Bennett, and he wrote me, "You can label this 

 either D. dominica or D. d. albilora.'''' In this 

 specimen half of the superciliarj^ line was white, 

 the other half yellow. 



"Loggerhead Shrike" is probably White- 

 rumped Shrike, common here in the fall and 

 winter. "Barred Owl," should be Florida 

 Barred Owl, this being the form found here, 

 and has been reported to me from Gainesville, 

 Texas, Beaumont, Texas, and adjacent i)ortions 

 of Louisana. 



Mr. Atwater also gives the Ban-ed Owl as oc- 

 curing near San Antonio, Texas, and lists Bed- 

 shouldered Hawk from the same locality. It 

 would be interesting to know if he took spec- 

 imens of the above species and had them iden- 

 tified by good authority. In these days of 

 basing a sub-species on hair-splitting differ- 

 ences, an amateur can not well determine the 

 varieties. In fact it is impossible to do so with- 

 out having access to large series of specimens 

 of the species to be determined. I have all my 

 birds determined by the best authorities, as I 

 made mistakes in identification when I first 

 commenced collecting, some six or seven years 

 ago. 



I noticed the article by Mr. E. C. Davis of 

 Gainesville, Texas, in July number, current 

 volume of O. and O. It is not my purpose to 

 enter into a useless controversy about the num- 

 ber of eggs laid by any bird, as locality has 

 nmch to do with such a matter. I can, how- 

 ever, give my experience. I have this year 

 taken (through my collectors, partly) thirty- 

 nine sets of Red-bellied Hawk, {Buteo lineatus 

 eleganus) in which incubation was far enough 

 advanced to be called full. Of these thirty- 

 nine twenty-two were sets of three, and the 

 remainder of two eggs each. I think my col- 

 lectors are as careful in such matters as it is 

 possible to be, and as it is to their pecuniary 

 benefit to find as large sets as possible, I do not 

 think that they would take a nest of eggs until 

 the set is full. 



Mr. Davis takes me to task for some things I 



have written. I have no apologies to make, I 

 simply stated the facts as I knew them, or as 

 thej' had been represented to me. In the arti- 

 cle to which Mr. Davis refers I wrote that Mr. 

 Eagsdale had never taken more than three eggs 

 in a set of Bed-shoiddered Hawk, but the prin- 

 ter made me say '"'•Bed-bellied Hawk.'''' 



Mr. Davis also seems to think it would be im- 

 possible for a species to be resident here and 

 not occur in his locality. He should study up 

 on "Geographical Distribution." I found Tex- 

 an Cardinal, (Pi/rrhuloxia sinuata) ; common in 

 Burnet County, Texas, seventy miles from here, 

 but six j^ears close collecting has not shown it 

 to occur here. This is only one instance where 

 I could name dozens. Two species at least I 

 know to occur here that do not occur in Cook 

 County, viz. Texan Screech Owl, (Scops asio 

 maccalli) and Texan Quail, (Ortijyx virginiana 

 texana) — Mr. Ragsdale's cabinet specimens of 

 the latter species having been obtained from me. 



The fact of Mr. Eidgway not having found 

 Buteo lineatus elegans east of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains does not alter the case any. If Mr. Davis 

 will turn to page 189 of the A. 0. U. Code and 

 Nomenclature he will see that B. I. eleyans is 

 given the habitat "from Western Texas to Cali- 

 fornia, and south into Mexico." Mr. Ridgvvay 

 was one of the committee of five who prepared 

 the "Code," and it don't look as if he did not 

 know the species to occur "east of the Rocky 

 Mountains." In the same work quoted above, 

 on page 199 he will also see the habitat of Syr- 

 nium {Strix) nebidosum alleni given as "Florida" 

 — a very restricted distribution which Mr. 

 Davis knows to be incorrect, and going to 

 show that even so accomplished an ornitholo- 

 gist as Mr. Ridgway has something to learn of 

 the distribution of some species. 



About the number of eggs in a set of Buteo 

 lineatus elegans, Mr. A. M. Ingersoll of San 

 Diego, Cal., writes me that he has taken two 

 sets of four eggs each of this species, but I am 

 not surprised at this, as California sets of eggs, 

 like the fruits and "wegetables" of that state, 

 are on a large scale ! 



Regarding some other species I quote from 

 his (Mr. Ingersoll's) letter, "In Marin County 

 I found three eggs to be the usual set for Ageli- 

 aius phcfniceus gubernator, while four is the 

 usual set at Woodland, Yolo County, and I 

 found more sets of five than three while there. 

 I find that two and three is the usual set for 

 Pipilo fuscus crissalis near this citj^, while four 

 and five is the usual number for that bird in 

 some localities less than one hundred miles 

 from here." 



