The OoLOGisT. 



YOL. IX. NO. 1. 



ALBION, N. Y., JANUARY, 1897. 



Whoile N'o. 12S 



Something- for the "Oologist." 



There are doubtless few readers of 

 the OoLOGiST who have not at times 

 felt impelled to write something for 

 this valuable magazine. These moods 

 often come upon me, at least, and it is 

 with this burden on my mind that I 

 take the typewriter and attempt to 

 write "something for thecOoLOGiST," 

 trusting for inspiration to produce 

 something valuable, instructive and in- 

 teresting. It has impressed me that 

 the present need of [ornithology is 

 clear, definite accounts of one find, or 

 of one bird, its nests and complements 

 of eggs, rather than lists of finds which 

 state no particulars or data advancing 

 the knowledge alreadycrecorded about 

 the birds mentioned. The'latter will 

 perhaps satisfy mere collectors, but 

 progressive naturalists want more in- 

 structive details. In my earlier days I 

 wasted much ammunition fii-ing into 

 the large flocks of blackbirds passing 

 over my head, but I never did much 

 execution until I learned to pick out a 

 victim upon which to concentrate my 

 fire, and thus I often secured other 

 birds besides the one which I had se- 

 lected. I believe that a careful de- 

 scription of one nest and its contents is 

 of more scientific value than simple 

 notices of many finds. We need more 

 tangible information about the birds 

 we now know in an indifferent sort of 

 way. The recoi'ded knowledge about 

 many of our commoner birds is sur- 

 prisingly small, and part of what we 

 have is needlessly inaccurate, or basad 

 upon data gathered from localities so dif- 

 ferent from the districts within our reach 

 that the facts are largely unserviceable. 



Early last spring I became interested 

 in the actions of several pairs of Spar- 

 row Hawks, and on referring to my 

 files of the Oologist for the approxi^ 

 mate dates of nesting, I was surprised 

 to find nothing of value except from 

 Florida and California, where the nest- 

 ing season opens so much earlier than 

 in Illinois that the information was of 

 no service. On consulting Davie's 

 Nests and Eggs, an invaluable book for 

 the student of ornithology, I found the 

 very definite statement that the eggs of 

 this species are usually deposited in 

 April or in the first part of May, a pe- 

 riod embracing time enough for j^the- 

 birds to rear their broods and leave the 

 nest. The result was that I broke up 

 one nest by investigating it too early, 

 and allowed another set to become 

 badly incubated before I decided to dis- 

 turb the nest. The Sparrow Hawk is 

 perhaps one of those common species, 

 which are too well known to admit of 

 their being written of in ambitious 

 journals, but I am so constituted that I 

 need more facts about this class of 

 birds. 



My only find of value thus far this 

 season has been a nest of the Red-tailed 

 Hawk, my first set of this species, and 

 what can be of more interest to the 

 novice in collecting than his first set of 

 Red-tails? The nest was in a large tree 

 about forty rods away from a house in 

 plain sight of the farmer's family, who of- 

 ten observed the loving demonstrations 

 of the pair while they were preparing 

 the premises for their occupancy. The 

 nest was a structure of former years 

 and evidently needed little repairs for 

 the simple tastes of the rugged pair, a, 

 few wisps of dried grass and several 



