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THBJ OOLOGIST 



they should be 300a and 300b, but they 

 vary from greys to reds with all grad- 

 uation of coloring between in different 

 individuals so that it would require 

 the services of the experts (?) who 

 separated them to identify some of 

 these birds in either sub-species and 

 then, no two identifications of a num- 

 ber of birds by different experts would 

 agree. I am content to know them as 

 Ruffed Grouse. A. D. Henderson. 



First Eggs of the Season in Texas. 

 By R. Graham and G. E. Maxon, 

 Ft. Worth, Texas. 

 As it has been cool weather the first 

 part of March, it has made the birds 

 a little late about laying. On March 

 10th Mr. Emmett Maxon, an egg col- 

 lector and myself went out on the 

 Trinity River west of here and after 

 tramping around all day we never 

 found any eggs but we run three 

 Screech Owls out of hollow trees, 

 found six fresh crow nests, two old 

 Hawks' nests and saw a Barn Owl 

 have a fight with a bunch of crows. 

 The Vultures were mating but not 

 eggs yet. Again on the 17th of March 

 we went the same round, collecting 

 five sets of crows but no Hawks or 

 Owls. On the 18th we went twenty 

 miles north of here and camped. We 

 made a walk to a large hole in a sand 

 bank and found a Barn Owl there but 

 no eggs; going on up the creek we 

 went to an old Hawk's nest and found 

 that the Horned Owls were there but 

 they had hatched, bringing two big 

 healthy Owls. They were snow white 

 and big enough to pop their bills. The 

 mother bird had plenty of food for 

 them, three headless rats and a rab- 

 bit. We never found anything more 

 that day. 



On the 19th we were out early, after 

 walking for several miles we came up- 

 on a large Hawk's nest. We found it 

 to be a Krider Hawk about thirty feet 



from the ground. I went up the tree 

 and the Hawk circled low with a 

 scream or two, then I reached the nest 

 to find a well marked set of two eggs. 

 Prom here we went to some rocky 

 hills where Vultures inhabit. We col- 

 lected one set of two black Vultures. 

 After a hard hunt over the rocks we 

 found that we were a week too early. 

 Then after returning to camp we ex- 

 plored a thickly timbered country in 

 the river bottoms for Owls. While Mr. 

 Maxon was rapping on a tree out flew 

 a Barred Owl; he went up and collect- 

 ed a set of two eggs slightly incubated. 

 Going on up the river we went to some 

 old Hawk's nest and found a Horned 

 Owl setting on one of them. She flew 

 away not even looking back. Here 

 we collected a set of three eggs well 

 incubated. We returned to camp and 

 that evening collected a set of four 

 crows. The next morning we left for 

 Ft. Worth satisfied with our efforts 

 and hope to return again in the near 

 future. 



Newspaper Ornithology. 



Most of us have at times been amus- 

 ed by previously unknown ornitholog- 

 ical facts which appear in current 

 magazines and newspapers and have 

 often wondered where the strange 

 facts could have been obtained. I 

 have myself often laughed over 

 strange statements that I have occa- 

 sionally come across and recently I 

 have found what I regard as the most 

 ridiculous of ornithological fiction. A 

 friend of mine had been for a hike 

 with the Botanical Society of Western 

 Pennsylvania and during the day had 

 commented to several members upon 

 seeing a Golden-winged Warbler and 

 finding a Phoebe's nest. The next day 

 one of the Pittsburgh newspapers told 

 of the walk in the country and spoke 

 casually of one of the party finding a 

 Golden-winged Pedee's nest. This, I 

 must confess, is a bird which I have 

 yet to see. 



Thos. D. Burleigh. 



