your alert re HOC'S paper brings to mind several personal experiences i had
with this delightful old fashion gentleman. i'm from wash dc originally and
during the '30's i would report my special birding finds to him. he in turn
would pass on reports he thought accurate from a 14yr old birder. i found a
small breeding colony of yellow-crowned night herons up the potamac r. about
40miles north of dc. they were nesting in second growth elms in an area
called the ponds--overflow channels of the river. at 1st HOC refused to
believe me back i went several times at his request to check on certain
features of the herons. finally he went to the field with me. i was right!
the 1st breeding birds north of the carolines. later i was told by a
smithsonian scientist when i worked there in '46. that HCO never went into
the field at that time. he worked on museum collections and was known as a
splitter. also during my birdings i found 28 blue-gray gnatcatcher nests in
low growing willows in one day. must be a record. this may be trival but
historic.