THE OOLOGIST 



45 



MARCH 



March is the month when the large 

 Hawks of North America select their 

 nesting site and in many parts of the 

 country lay their eggs. The woods at 

 this time of the year are showing the 

 signs of the touch of the hand of 

 Spring, the tree buds are swelling, 

 many wild flowers are pushing their 

 blooms up through the fallen leaves, 

 the air is pure and crisp, the sunshine 

 bright and attractive and there is no 

 time of the year when it is pleasanter 

 for the real collector to march into 

 nature's own realms and many days 

 marching has resulted in the addition 

 of very desirable specimens to the 

 collection of the marcher. 



Take the advice of the editor and 

 MARCH! 



UNUSUAL SETS OF RED-TAILED 

 HAWK t'GGS 



An article in the February issue of 

 the OOLOGIST on this subject was 

 of more than usual interest to me, an 

 "Old Timer" on Red-tailed Hawks 

 eggs, having begun to peep into their 

 nests in the year 1883, and incidental- 

 ly, capture the prizes so dear to the 

 heart of the oologist. My enthusiasm 

 was aroused to the extent of spend- 

 ing quite a bit of time looking over 

 my series of eggs of this species for 

 comparison. 



My measurements comprise about 

 360 eggs, or about 150 sets; two of 

 which contained four heavily marked 

 specimens each, and the only sets of 

 this large number I ever took. Three 

 sets were of single eggs, but well ad- 

 vanced in incubation. All others were 

 of two and three eggs each, a few 

 more sets of two than three. 



I have made many sets which show 

 an extreme size in one diameter while 

 they are normal in the other. For in- 

 stance; many are very close to 2.50 

 in. in the major axis, but fall .10 to 



.15 in. below 2.00 in. in the minor 

 axis, and many others which are near 

 2.00 in. in the minor, are .15 to .20 in. 

 less than 2.50 in. which would seem 

 to be about the extreme length of nor- 

 mal eggs. 



At the present writing I have a com- 

 plete scheule of the measurements of 

 223 of these eggs which exhibit an 

 average of 2.34 x 1.86 inches. All of 

 these are decidedly normal, none of 

 the first four, nor of the last three 

 sets described below, entering into 

 the compilation of the schedule, The 

 remaining 121 have been collected 

 since the schedule was compiled, and 

 while the measurements have been 

 recorded, a look at them convinces me 

 that the addition of the figures would 

 hardly effect the general average 

 given above. 



Allowing a range of .40 in. in long 

 diameter and .30 in. In short diameter 

 for normal eggs, would seem to put 

 into the abnormal class all eggs 

 measuring 2.55 in. or over, or 2.15 in. 

 and below in long diameter; and those 

 going above 2.01 and below 1.71 in. in 

 the abnormal class for short diameter. 



Set No. 1909, Coll. Mar. 27, 1898, 

 two eggs, 2.75 x 1.75 and 2.47 x 1.74 

 in. 



Set No. 2037, coll. Apr. 5, 1899, two 

 eggs, 2.65 x 1.87 and 2.63 x 1.85 in. 



Set No. 2044, coll. Apr. 16, 1899, two 

 eggs, 2.59 x 1.84 and 2.55 x 1.74 in. 



Set No. 2590, coll. Apr. 2, 1908, two 

 eggs, 2.67 x 1.86 and 2.59 x 1.78. 



Set No. 1126, coll. Apr. 6, 1893, two 

 eggs, 2.55 x 1.93 and 2.53 x 1.99 in. 



Set No. 1288, coll Apr. 8, 1894, two 

 eggs, 2.51 x 2.05 and 2.47 x 2.02 in. 



Set No. 1917, coll. Apr. 4, 1899, three 

 eggs, 2.49 x 2.03, 2.51 x 2.03 and 2.43 x 

 2.00 in. 



The smallest eggs I find in the 

 series are the last measured speci- 

 mens of each of the following three 

 sets: 



