THE OOLOQIST. 



41 



capped Chickadee, Oologist, Vol. VI, 

 1889, p. 153. Set of two eggs, 2.10 x 

 1.70, 2.12 X 1.70, April 20, at Bradford, 

 Mass. Nest lined with grass. (Date 

 apparently almost a month earlier 

 than the average set of fres'h eggs of 

 Buteo platypterus in New England; 

 measurements of eggs quite equaling 

 or beyond the maximum; and notes 

 representing several hundred nests 

 from various parts of the country fail 

 to show grass-lined nests for this spe- 

 cies, although together with data, and 

 size of eggs, altogether harmonizes 

 with the domestic arrangements of 

 Buteo lineatus. 



M. & C. A Day After Hawk's Eggs. 

 Oologist, Vol. VII, 1890, p. 108. Set 

 of two eggs taken in Windsor Co., Vt., 

 April 22, 1889. Female shot. (Al- 

 though the bird was reported shot, it 

 was in all probability incorrectly iden- 

 tified; for the date is at least 20 days 

 earlier than we find completed sets in 

 Chester county Penna., several 'hun- 

 dred miles further south, and well 

 within the Carolinian fanna. Proba- 

 bly also the Red-shouldered Hawk). 



Elliot, E. G. Some Unusual Hap- 

 penings, Oologist, Vol. VII, 1890, p. 

 14.5. An account of the substitution 

 of the dcmestic hen's eggs for two 

 of those o fthe hawk, April 17, at 

 Bradford, Mass. (Same remarks ap- 

 ply to this as to previous title.) 



Haskins, R. V. A Battle with the 

 Broad-wings. Oologist, Vol. XXII, 1905, 

 pp. 89-90. A graphic description of 

 the aggressiveness of the female and 

 the collecting of a set of five eggs dn 

 May 15. Bird circling around and 

 screaming lustily, nest lined with 

 grass, leaves, etc. (Well authenti- 

 cated sets of five eggs of the Broad- 

 winged Hawk are almost unheard of, 

 while not so very uncommon in the 

 instance of the Red-shouldered Hawk; 

 furthermore, the former species seem 

 very constant in their nesting ha'bits, 

 flushing quietly from the nest when 



disturbed and aligthing on a dead 

 branch of a tree a few hundred yards 

 away usually, and perhaps protesting 

 now and then in a Plover-like whistle. 

 The latter "cireles around and 

 screams." normally; and also fre- 

 quently lines her nest with the "grass, 

 leaves, etc." The "etc." I will not 

 vouch for, however, as it stands for 

 all sorts of things or nothing, and 

 s'hould be eliminated from datas.) 



It is easy to make mistakes, and it 

 sometimes seems very humiliating to 

 have to acknowledge that an error 

 was made; but it is a far greater mis- 

 take to perpetuate evident uncertain- 

 ties by silence. The Oologist is doubt- 

 less full of errors, no scientific period- 

 ical is entirely free of them; and then, 

 there are oologists and oologists, 

 quite a difference truly; and perhaps 

 there are too many who attempt to 

 identify the eggs of a bird by the eggs 

 and nest, and not by the bird. Al- 

 though few have the courage of our 

 mutual friend, the late Harry K. Jam- 

 ison, who wrote on one of his custo^m 

 ary generous blanket-sized data 

 blanks, atfer identification: "By the 

 nest and eggs." This was a person- 

 ally collected set of the Broad-winged 

 Hawk, collected after a deal of trou- 

 ble and risk, which he relates under 

 the head of remarks; and its identity, 

 if not its identification, is above re- 

 proach. 



I want to say to the readers of the 

 Oologist, that I am now engaged in 

 collecting data on the life history of 

 the Broad-winged Hawk, and would 

 be pleased to have their co-operatioa 

 in this work. Exact data is desired, 

 whether it he a single date of its oc- 

 currence in a practically unworked lo- 

 cality, or notes on its breeding, feed- 

 ing, migrating or other habits in the 

 center of its abundance. 



FRANK L. BURNS, 



Berwyn, Penna., 



