30 NORTH AMERICAN OOLOGY. PART 1. 



descriptions of the birds of Vermont. 1 Two eggs from New Jersey, measuring 2rg- 

 inches in length, by 1-Hr in breadth, have a brownish-white ground, marked with 

 large blotches of yellowish umber, chiefly around the larger end, where they form a 

 confluent ring. One of these is represented in Plate III, fig. 25. Two others, from 

 a nest in Massachusetts, exhibit the following measurements : 2-^6 by 1-Hr, and 2iV by 

 lit 'inches. One of these has a dirty- white ground, with large, irregular blotches 

 of umber and sienna brown, mingled confusedly together, of different shades, and 

 nearly covering the whole surface. The other is nearly unspotted, has the lighter 

 brown markings of the preceding, which are not well defined, and are diffused over 

 about one half of its surface. The ground color is more distinctly white, but with 

 no bluish shade. Two others belonging to this species, obtained in Milton, Mass, 

 by Mr. E. Samuels, and identified by securing the parent bird, may be thus described. 

 One measures 2iV by 1-Hr inches ; the ground color is a dirty white, and is marked 

 with large blotches, lines, and clottings of umber-brown, of various shades, from quite 

 dark to light. The other is 2 inches by ITS', has a bluish-white ground, and is 

 only marked by a number of very faint blotches of yellowish-brown and a slate-drab. 

 Except in their shape, which is an oval spheroid, slightly pointed at one end, these 

 bear but very slight resemblance to each other, though taken at the same time from 

 one nest. Two more from Cheraw, S. C., also found in one nest, vary even more 

 than these. One is 2 by Ire inches ; the ground color is a dull, soiled white, marked 

 chiefly at the larger end with bold, distinct blotches of deep umber-brown. The 

 other measures 2-rV by ItV inches ; the ground color is a light slate-drab, with 

 hardly any markings, except some ill-defined blotches of the same color as the 

 ground, but of a deeper shade. There is also a slight variation in their shape, the 

 latter being more oblong. 



1 History of Vermont, Natural, Civil, and Statistical, by Zadock Thompson, (Burlington (Vt.), 1842,) 

 p. 60. 



