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 62 THE CONDOR Vol. XV one far advariced in incubation on the t9th, 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 thwarted hopes 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 Fa!con's egg. She (varium et mutabile semper femina) 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 exquisite pain--but those dear woes we may not voice. WILLLtM LEON Dt WSON--A BIOGRAPHY By HARRY S. SWARTH. WITH PORTRAIT AND TWO PHOTOS 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- ably 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 objecfs of particular interest to their fellow club members. Among the projects which the Club has pledged itself to support there is 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, 873. 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 ot public instruction. A little later the father entered the ministry, and the family removed, first, in t879, 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 had already a fondness for natural history, an attribute not so un- common in youth, but which too frequently dies out through lack of encourage-