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II 
I forget if I wrote you of the European Widgeon that was 
shot near here and given me by a friend. It was a new record for 
the state,but possibly you may have seen my account of it in the 
"Auk* or the "Condor". 
My collection of eggs still continues to grow and now 
numbers 627 varieties. Recent'additions of interest are Yellow 
Rail N/9, Black Rail N/8, Peale’s Falcon l/4, and others(l think 
I have never told you of these). There are a number of vacancies 
that I should like to fill, among them being Zone-tailed Hawk, 
Short-tailed Hawk, Gyrfalcon, Poor-will, Black-whiskered Vireo, 
Blue-winged Warbler, Palm Warbler,Wilson’s Warbler,and others. 
If you happen to know of anyone likely to have these for exchange 
I should be very glad to have the address. 
I wonder if you can help me to solve a moat puzzling 
state of affairs that occurred last spring. I discovered a little 
chain of lakes in the woods near here upon which the Hooded Mer¬ 
gansers were very common,in fact I saw sixteen females in one day. 
However,hunt as I would I could not find a nest, although I probed 
nearly every hole in a tree that looked big enough to hold even a 
Chickadee{taking two sets of Kennicott’s Screech Owl during the 
search). On May Ilth. the first lady Hoody appeared with ten wee 
babies,and this right where I had hunted the most thoroughly. I 
must confess that I cannot understand it, and hope that you may be 
able to furnish a key to the situation. I intend to get after them 
with bird-boxes, and have made six that look to me far more suitable 
than holes intrees could be. Very few of my "decoys" for Creepers 
go untenanted,so perhaps I may do something with the Hoodys. 
