THE OOLOGIST 



171 



regularly; number of eggs; number of 

 nests per acre in various kinds of 

 land; length of incubation; habits 

 during incubation; frequency of feed- 

 ing young; and other facts about 

 feeding; sex-ratio of young if pos- 

 sible; kinds of food; length of time 

 young remain in nest; dates of 

 changes in feathering; habits after 

 leaving nest; preparation for migra- 

 tion; dates of migration; and many 

 other facts which would come up. 

 Nothing that might add to the knowl- 

 edge of the species would be too 

 trivial to note. Observations must 

 be exact or should not be made at all. 

 Records should be made at the time 

 of observations, never guessed at or 

 written down later from memory. 

 Every available nest of the species 

 should be visited at least once a day. 

 Some observations will take hours of 

 patient watching at a single nest. 

 The work could be divided among the 

 members of a bird club and would 

 provide interesting and productive 

 work. Observations to be valuable, 

 would have to be on large numbers of 

 birds, for a long period of time, and 

 above all, accurate. Although each 

 club or individual only contributed a 

 few observations, the lumping of such 

 data would give results of importance. 

 Of course, the dates of arrival, nest- 

 ing and departure would vary for dif- 

 ferent parts of the country, but the 

 lives and habits would be comparable. 

 The Biological Survey is already 

 starting a systematic plan of pro- 

 cedure by banding birds in all parts 

 of the country. This, however, is 

 mainly with the idea of studying mi- 

 gration. The lives and habits in the 

 summer homes can be carefully and 

 accurately studied in some such way 

 as I have outlined. 



SAFE 



Early in September the Press 

 despatches carried a scare head an- 

 nouncement of a serious tidal wave 

 which almost or totally destroyed one 

 of the ports in Lower California, 

 where our friend, Chester C. Lamb, 

 had been writing from. Of course, 

 this aroused in the minds of his 

 friends apprehension, but it is now our 

 understanding that Mr. Lamb was not 

 injured in any way. For all of which 

 we are duly thankful. He is one of 

 the finest fellows with whom we have 

 ever dealt. 



R. M. Barnes. 



FISH HAWK KILLS ROBIN? 



Newspapers are not the only publi- 

 cations that print distorted facts and 

 lies about birds. Books frequently 

 contains ornithological nature freaks, 

 and about one of the worst lies about 

 the Fish Hawk or Osprey I found in 

 "The White Islander," by Mary Hart- 

 well Catherwood, (pages 66-67), pub- 

 lished in 1893, by The Century Com- 

 pany, New York City. It is as fol- 

 lows : 



"A Fish-hawk was dragging a 

 Robin through the water to drown it. 

 Marie has seen the Hawk drop like 

 a stone with its prey. The Fish-hawk, 

 beaten off by the paddle, left the Red- 

 breasted bird, and soared away in- 

 dignant at killing prey for big un- 

 feathered creatures, yet satisfied that 

 its work was well done. The Robin 

 was past fluttering when Henry lifted 

 it out of the water. It was drowned 

 and its neck was broken." 



Richard F. Miller, 

 Philadelphia, Pa. 



