62 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XV 
one far advanced in incubation on the 19th, and another hatching on the 22nd. 
If robbed early in the season, second sets are almost invariably laid in a new 
but closely related situation. 
Probably none but the few elect would enjoy a rhapsody on color varration 
in Falcons’ eggs, and the non-elect would raise holy hands of horror over the 
rhwarted hoj^es of these feathered brigands. So be it then, and suffice to say that 
neither Brooks nor Fuertes can paint a bird with such bewitching grace as Na- 
ture herself displays in the lawless tinting of a Falcon’s egg. She {'varium et 
uintahilc scviper fcmina) dips her brush in oorhodeine and she feathers and stip- 
ples or twirls and scumbles, or as suddenly ceases, until the hearts of her poor 
votaries are seized with an exc|uisite pain — but those dear woes we may not 
voice. 
WILL,! AM LEON DAWSON— A BIOGRAPHY 
By HARRY S. SWARTH 
WITH PORTRAIT AND TWO PHOTOS 
I T IS always of interest to follow the growth of a large and important enter- 
prise, to trace, step by step, the first early attempts by which momentous re- 
sults are eventually reached, and to study the personality of the man or men 
behind the undertaking, the backbone of the adventure. The Cooper Ornitholog- 
ical Club has in recent years widened the scope of its activities to an extent prob- 
ablv undreamed of by its founders, being now committed to the active support 
of several undertakings of unusual interest and moment ; and the individuals 
most directly concerned in each of these different enterprises have naturally be- 
come objects of particular interest to their fellow club members. 
Among the projects which the Club has pledged itself to support there i.s 
probably none of greater general interest than the proposed publication, “The 
Birds of California," undertaken by William Leon Dawson, and now being so 
energetically pushed towards completion. Those of us most closely in touch 
with Mr. Dawson — who have had opportunities of observing the growth and de- 
velopment of the undertaking — have felt that others would be interested to know 
something of the circumstances leading up to so desirable a consummation as the 
production of the work as planned, as well as something of the ideas and ideals 
with which the author approaches his task. In this brief sketch the main inci- 
dents of his career are outlined, and an attempt is made to interpret some of his 
aspirations as to what the forthcoming book should be. 
William Leon Dawson, an only child, was born at Leon, Decatur County, 
Iowa, February 20, 1873. The family soon after removed to western Kansas, 
where the father, William E. Dawson, a lawyer, helped to organize the county of 
Rush, becoming its first prosecuting attorney, and later its first superintendent of 
jiublic instruction. A little later the father entered the ministry, and the family 
removed, first, in 1879, to Ottawa, Kansas, two years later to northern Illinois. 
When the son was twelve years of age they moved to Ahtanum, Yakima County, 
Washington; and when he was fourteen to Seattle, where he entered the State 
University, at that time little more than a high school. 
The boy bad already a fondness for natural history, an attribute not so un- 
common in youth, but which too frequently dies out through lack of encourage- 
