12 



THE OOLOGIST. 



the sticks are 1% inches in circum- 

 ference and 2 feet long, the nests are 

 all very close together, on flat rocks 

 near the water's edge. 



J. G. Gordon, 

 Corsemalize, Whauphill, 

 Wigtownshire, Scotland. 



474 Horned Lark. 



(Otocoris alpestris) 

 While I was out walking on Friday, 

 March 28, 1902. I saw a nest with 

 3 eggs in. I did not recognize the 

 eggs but I put them in my handker- 

 chief, as I did not have my collecting 

 box-with me, and carried them home. 



I found out from an oologist that 

 they were the eggs of the Northern 

 Horned Lark, so called because they 

 breed up in Labador and Newfound- 

 land. This one had evidently staid 

 behind to breed as it was the only one 

 around. 



The eggs are greenish-gray with pale 

 brownish-gray spots, which form a 

 ring around the thick end. They are 

 about the size of an English Sparrow 

 egg averaging .90x.64. 



The nest was composed of grass lined 

 with feathers and set in the ground. 

 It was not hidden at all as you could 

 see both nest and eggs very plainly 

 quite a way off as there was no grass 

 or weeds to hide it. 



This is accidental, as this bird's 

 eggs are rarely found so far south as 

 Toronto. These eggs are invariably 

 mistaken for those of the Shore Larks, 

 but the Ornithologists here have decid- 

 ed that they belong to the Northern 

 Horned Lark as the Shore Larks have 

 not come up yet and the Northerns 

 had gone up a few weeks in advance 

 of the finding of this nest. 



R. G. Austen. 

 Toronto, Ont. 



Cooper's Hawk, in Orange County, Cal . 



While passing through a dense wil- 

 low forest at the mouth of, the Santa 

 Ana Canyon in May of last year,, in 

 company with a young collector, I 

 flushed several adult Cooper's Hawks 

 from perches among the branches, 

 and was not a, little surprised, when 

 he, on climbing to an old nest, held 

 up a single, small, pale blue egg. 

 He returned to the nest ten days later 

 and took a typical set of four fresh 

 eggs. He is 30 miles away aiid I do 

 not remember the exact date, but be- 

 lieve them to be the first ever taken in 

 this county. i 



H. H. Dunn. 



Book Review. 



Coue's " Key to North American 

 Birds. " 



We are notified by the publishers; 

 Dana, Estes & Co., that the long ex- 

 pected 5th Edition of Cowes Key is 

 now ready for d livery. 



This masterpiece of Dr. Coues has 

 been greatly delayed by his unfortu- 

 nate death just as the manuscript was 

 completed. 



The work, published in two large 

 volumes and profusely illustrated, is 

 not only a complete analytical and 

 descriptive Key of every Bird (living 

 and fossil), known to occur between 

 Mexico and the North Pole but it is 

 also a key to their breeding habits and 

 eggs as far as known. 



This 5th edition revised is by far the 

 most complete and valuable all around 

 reference work for American Ornithol- 

 ogists and Oologists. 



The nomenclature has been changed 

 to comform to the American Ornithol- 

 ogists Union and it contains 200 life 

 studies by Fuertes. 



Either the Publisher or Editor of 

 the Oologist will promptly fill orders 

 for this work at the Publishers price. 



Two Vols, cloth, Net. $10.00 



