﻿FIELD AND FOREST. 219 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



Editor Field and Forest: 



In your April issue we " note''' that a Mr. Ragsdale of Gainesville, 

 Texas, is inclined to doubt the truth of our statement (in February 

 number of your journal J regarding the occurrence of Archibuteo lagopus 

 in numbers in the Indian Territory. We did not intend that our ob- 

 servations, made during a hurried passage, and over a narrow belt of 

 country, should apply to any other locality, or season, than the time 

 and place at which we took our notes. A person might even have a 

 different experience on the same route, another year; at the same time, 

 that would not neccessarily imply that our observations were incor- 

 rect. What we said about this hawk can be corroborated by intelli- 

 gent and reliable gentlemen that were of the party. 



We did not mean the " nation " at large, but that portion through 

 which we passed, viz. along the M. K. and T. R. R. From the 

 Neosho valley * to the southward of San Bois Mountains, this hawk 

 was very common, We were unfortunate enough to cross the line m 

 the night, and cannot with certainty say that they were found quite to 

 the Texan border, but we did meet them as far south as Brazoria Co., 

 Texas, at Austin, and Hempstead ; at the latter point they were far 

 from rare, and we can furnish Mr. Ragsdale with proof of our asser- 

 tions, from prominent Texan gentlemen. Mr. Ragsdale has not 

 found this hawk common at Gainesville, Texas, which place is only 

 seven miles from the line, and from this fact infers that our statements 

 were wild. 



We are not acquainted with the region in which Mr. R. resides, but 

 it is more than probable that the locality is not such as this hawk fre_ 

 quents ; as a natural consequence few would be found. 



We might take for example Graculus dilophus, which is very com- 

 mon every spring at Lake Koshkonong, Wis., so much so that we 

 have killed six at a single discharge ; at the same time at Racine, fifty 

 miles east, Dr. Hoy has not met a single specimen during a residence 

 of over thirty years in that vicinity. sEgialitis meloda is a common 

 bird along Lake Michigan, and breeds as far south as Waukegan, Ill- 

 inois. At Madison, Wisconsin, it is rare and migratory. 



* Prof. Snow gives A. lagopus, as abundant in Kansas in winter. 



