July, 1882.] 
AND (,)()L()GI8T. 
141 
Brief Newsy Notes. 
Hawk Incubation.— A Red-shonlderecl 
Hawk finished her nest and laid the first 
egg May 2, 1881. May 5th, there were 
three eggs ; May 20th, no change was to 
be seen ; visited the nest again May 3()th. 
and found two hawks about a day old. 
Cooper’s Hawk occupied twenty-seven 
days in incubation. My experience woidd 
indicate that hawks occupy from twenty- 
six to twenty-eight days for incubation. 
— 7^. II. Carpenter^ llehohnth, 3fass. 
Notes feom Shelter Island. —The Lit¬ 
tle Blue Herons must have been unusu¬ 
ally numerous along our coast last 
Summer. A gunner brought one to me on 
Aug. 16th, and said he saw two. May 
they not have been stragglers from the 
same flock mentioned by Mr. J. N. Clark, 
in the September number of O. and O. ? 
My siiecimen corresiionds exactly with his 
description. 
A very prolific English sparrow inhab¬ 
ited one of my bird boxes last Spring. 
Her first set was six eggs, the last one 
laid being rather light colored. I took 
these, and she immediately begun and 
laid another set of six, the last egg being 
verj" pale. I took these, and she laid one 
almost pure white egg and gave uj) the 
contest. 
May 23, 1881, I went to a well-known 
breeding place after a few sets of Bank 
Swallow’s eggs. As I neared the jilace in 
a small sailboat. I thought it very curious 
that I saw' no swallows flying about the 
bluffs as they usually do ; but on landing 
and beginning to dig, I soon saw the 
reason. The previous tw’o w'eeks of con¬ 
tinual rainy weather had totally extermina¬ 
ted the entire colony. Most of the 
burrows contained from three to eight, 
and from one burrow I removed ten dead 
sw'allows and two eggs, one of which is a 
trifle larger than usual, while the other is 
smaller than a Ruby-throated Humming 
Bird’s. — W. W. JVorfliinf/tov . 
Turkey Buzzard.— Oliver G. Browm, of 
North Stonington, Conn., shot a Turkey 
Buzzard, April 2()th, that measured six 
feet from tip to tip of its wings. It was 
shot on the ground while feeding on the 
dead body of a hen. There were no 
other Buzzards aliout. It was mounted 
by A. M. Taft, of Westerly, R. I., and is 
now in the possession of George D. 
Brown, of Stonington. Conn. 
Golden-winged Warbler.— We have just 
handled a beautiful Golden-winged War¬ 
bler {JleJmhithophdf/a c/iri/soptera), shot 
this morning at Higganum, Conn., by Mr. 
Harry W. Flint of Deep 'River. This is 
one of the rarer Warblers. We have seen 
but five here (Portland), during the last 
eight years. May 19, 1875, wdien w'atch- 
ing some other Warblers in a small piece 
of woods, one of this species, with out¬ 
spread wings, suddenly dropped beside 
our feet. It was very much excited and 
must have been chased by a Hawk.— J. 
If. Sage, l^ortland, Cana., Mag 17, 1882. 
“Wood Sparrow.” —In your Ajiril num- 
l)er a correspondent asks for information 
concerning a little bird he has termed the 
“Wood Sparrow'.” I would suggest, from 
the color of the under mandibles, that it is, 
doubtless, the “Tree Sparrow',” {Spizella 
montana.) This sjiecies is quite abundant 
in the Spring and Fall, and a few' individ¬ 
uals may possibly breed in the Adiron- 
dacks of New' York, or the mountainous 
parts of the New England States. The 
male has a pretty little song', in w'hich it 
indulges quite freely during its Spring so¬ 
journ with us. If w'ell cared for they 
tiirive in confinement, and the writer has 
known them to become quite tame and 
familiar.— S. L. ’Willard, Chicago, III. 
Red-headed Woodpecker. — Mr. A. H. 
Helme’s note on this bird calls to mind an 
instance of the fly-catching haliit of the 
Hairy Woodjiecker. In June, 1881, w'hile 
sjiending a few days in tlie w'ilds of the 
Adirondacks, I found a nest of this bird 
in front of my cam]), in tlie decayed limb 
