26 



THE OOLOGIST 



field, snapped them as they arose. I 

 found one Fox Sparrow on the fall mi- 

 gration that the dog had just killed, 

 and one that was hung by the skin of 

 the neck in the fence of the chicken 

 yard, during a storm. 



There must have been two hundred 

 English Sparrows about the barns 

 when I left in December. 



In April I noted a nest with eggs, 

 and the birds of a pair of White 

 rumped Shrike in an Osage Orange, 

 also a pair of upland Plover bred on 

 the farm, and a pair of American Bit- 

 tern. Screech Owls were common. 



Mice fairly swarmed everywhere, 

 also many rats, especially in the 

 buildings, which were closed the 

 greater part of the time. 



Geo. W. H. vos Burgh 



Bird "Crime" or "Crimes" Against 

 Birds? 



By no less an authority than the dis- 

 tinguished Dr. Whitmer Stone, are Mr. 

 Geo. E. Neale and Judge F. W. Hen- 

 shaw acquitted in the Auk, (Jan. 1917.) 

 of the "Crime" of having described a 

 new sub-species of the White-fronted 

 Goose and he suggests it was a mere 

 "form." Perhaps so, as all geese and 

 about everything else in the realm of 

 zoology has form of one kind or 

 another. The term, "form" he says 

 should be used "when we are forced 

 to discuss both species and sub-species 

 at the same time." 



Perhaps so, but we are still the sub- 

 ject of "apparent perplexity" caused 

 at least in part, by what we find on 

 page 52 of the same issue of the Auk, 

 where Harry C. Oberholzer, probably 

 our leading authority on Ornithologi- 

 cal systemization, who there says, 

 "Four forms of Toxostoma redirivum 

 have been described" * * * it is now 

 possible to recognize instead of a 

 single form, three fairly well defined 

 geographic races." 



"Perplexity," is the normal condition 



of one who tries to follow the mysteri- 

 ous ways of big bird doctors into the 

 realms of sub-species, geographic 

 races, etc., particularly when differen- 

 tation is based on such a foundation 

 as (See Auk, Vol. XXXV, Pg. 53). 

 "None of the characters are wholly 

 constant." Hence they are only "fairly 

 well defined." 



Science is supposed to rest on truth, 

 facts subject to demonstration, and 

 common sense! Why split hairs about 

 it? 



—Editor. 



A Disgrace 



New York State has placed the 

 Great Blue Heron and the Bittern on 

 the list of unprotected birds this year. 

 (All of which is a disgrace to the state 

 of New York— Editor.) 



A black squirrel with ear tufts is 

 unusual. One was mounted this 

 season, taken in Ontario, Canada. It 

 was black all over the body, and the 

 upper half of its tail merged into a 

 brown. 



Goshawks are not plentiful in this 

 part of the country and a large fe- 

 male taken near Mauch Chunk, Pa., 

 may be worth mentioning. It was 

 shot early in December and sent to 

 be mounted. A small mouse was found 

 in this bird's stomach, swallowed 

 whole. 



Great South Bay, Long Island, has 

 always been a good place for ducks 

 and the early snow and storms we 

 are haying are helping shooting a 

 great deal. Broadbills are the most 

 common but Black Ducks are plenti- 

 ful and Shelldrakes about one third. 

 Good flocks of Brant were seen and a 

 few shot. 



M. J. Hoffman, 

 Brooklyn, N. Y. 



European Widgeon in Virginia 



I wish to record the capture of a 



