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” 
Sept., 1919 THE WILSON SNIPE NESTING IN CALIFORNIA 209 
according to Pemberton, Mr. Dawson also, thinks that it is a new record and 
one that should be published. 
Prrrrrrrrrrr ri rie eee irri id 
Since writing the above IJ have additional proof of the claim made by me 
to Mr. Pemberton that not only did the Wilson Snipe nest in the San Bernar- 
dino Valley twenty-five or thirty years ago but that it is still a regular nest- 
ing bird here. In 1917 I found a nest containing three eggs about two miles 
from the city of San Bernardino. In 1918 I found a nest with four young birds 
and an unhatched egg at the same place and this spring saw the nestlings of at 
least two pairs of Wilson Snipe a short distance east of San Bernardino. 
While I am on this subject I feel constrained to say that while there may 
be no earlier published records of many of the finds being made by the later 
day collectors and claimed as new, I am convinced that a little investigating, 
by the claimant of new records, among the old time collectors might convince 
them that their finds are not so rare as they may suppose. It must be remem- 
bered that a quarter of a century ago the accurate recording of birds was not 
as systematic as at the present time and for that reason many birds were omit- 
ted from lists that were still not so extremely rare. This is not a criticism of 
later day collectors in any way, but simply a suggestion that before listing a 
find as something absolutely new to science it might be well to make an inves- 
tigation that goes further than simply making the find. 
I know of two such records in addition to that of Wilson Snipe. One of 
these is the finding of the eggs of the Dwarf Cowbird (Molothrus ater obscurus) 
in this locality. My good friend, Wilson C. Hanna of Colton, during the year 
of 1918 took several eggs of the Cowbird and also one or two specimens of the 
bird itself, and I was astonished when I learned that the record was considered 
as new. It so happens that I have still in my possession an egg of the Cowbird 
taken in the exact locality where Mr. Hanna found his last year. Mine was 
taken by Sheldon Sleppy somewhere about thirty years ago and I know to a 
certainty that he collected others there. I have never known of a bird actually 
being seen until Mr. Hanna took his. 
This year Mr. Hanna informs me that he took a set of Anthony Green Her- 
on and also informs me that the record is new. I have taken several sets and 
know of many more sets of this bird which we in those days knew as the Lit- 
tle Green Heron being taken in this section. While during my oological days 
we knew of no such bird as Anthony Green Heron, I have every reason to be- 
~ heve that they are one and the same bird. I have no eggs of this bird to show 
in proof of my statement, but I have notes made at the time of collecting them 
which I know to be authentic. As stated before, this is not intended as a criti- 
cism in any way, but is simply an attempt to put some facts on record now that 
would undoubtedly have been published many years ago had ornithological 
publications been as well established and as painstaking as they are today. 
San Bernardino, California, July 2, 1919. 
