52 



THE OOLOGIST ^ C^) . >KV7 



which we had reason to believe exist- 

 ed in a grove close by. After search- 

 ing for a few minutes a nest was locat- 

 ed in the grape vines hanging from a 

 tall slender sycamore. The nest had 

 apparently fallen from a crotch in the 

 tree above its present situation but 

 had been nicely lined with bark and 

 green willow sprigs and contained four 

 very heavily marked eggs. After con- 

 siderable time spent in climbing up 

 the tree through the vines which grew 

 all over and through it we managed to 

 secure several photographs of the nest 

 and eggs. 



After eating our dinner we struck 

 out for the cliffs on the mountain side 

 from which we hoped to secure a set 

 of Duck Hawk. When part way up the 

 hill one of the Duck Hav>-ks was seen 

 to fly from an adjacent cliff and alight 

 on one of its former nesting sites. 

 After climbing right up close to the 

 cliff we made considerable noise and 

 the brooding bird hopped out on the 

 edge of the ledge and took a peek 

 down at uz to see what was coming 

 her vray. In a short time Ave had 

 reached the nest and found it to con- 

 tain three well incubated eggs which 

 were l:/ing at the back part of a large 

 ledge on the sandy floor of the ledge. 

 Both birds were very angry, showing 

 much fight and often coming so close 

 to the collector in their swoops as to 

 make a loud whistling noise with their 

 wings as they changed the course of 

 flight when within a very few feet 

 of the collector. After taking several 

 photographs we went back down to 

 our buggy and struck out for home. 

 In crossing the river bottom we drop- 

 ped in to see an old acquaintance of 

 ours of the previous year and found 

 her at home on top of the same old 

 wood rat's nest in a willow tree. She 

 seemed very sociable and we had 

 rather hard work enticing her to leave 

 the nest, having to pat her on the 



back a few times with a stick to se- 

 cure the desired results. In the nest 

 were several young Long-eared Owls 

 about one-quarter grown. As it was 

 after five o'clock and we had over 

 tvs'enty miles to travel to reach home, 

 we started and arrived shortly before 

 midnight, very tired but well satisfied 

 with our trip. 



J. B. Dixon. 

 Escondido, California. 



[For half tones illustrating this arti- 

 cle, see the following: Duck Hawk 

 Photos, Vol. XXXII, Pg. 63-65; XXXII, 

 178-181-183. Road Runner, Vol. XXXII, 

 Pg. 115. Red Shouldered Hawk, 

 XXXII, Pg. 26-28-30-32.] 



A PLEA FOR BETTER DATAS. 



Now that the collecting season is 

 again at hand, it may not be amiss to 

 say a word or two regarding datas. 



We all have out data blanks; some 

 elaborate; some less so; but all of 

 them designed for the purpose of pre- 

 senting certain facts concisely and ac- 

 curately. This is as it should be; 

 but I have a plaint to make that I be- 

 lieve will be echoed by many others; 

 and it bears: '"Not on the lack of de- 

 tail supplied by the printed data; but 

 on the lack of written detail; which 

 is usually conspicuous by its absence." 



I have now in my private collection 

 sets of eggs taken by a great many 

 of our well known collectors, both east 

 and west; and yet, I venture the as- 

 sertion that not more than one-tenth 

 of them (and you, friend reader, may 

 be among them) ever put down any- 

 thing upon their data blanks outside 

 of the barest statement of date, num- 

 bers, incubation and locality. Now 

 there are none of us who would care 

 to plead aethetic consideration alone 

 in defense of our hobby; but we are all 

 agreed on the subject of science and 

 study; granted that this is so; I ask 

 VQU as a friend more than as a critic: 



