74 Bird -Lore 



lion of aiiv kind, living or dead, formed its bottom and the genth' slojjing sides, 

 as well as the surface of the level ground about it for two or three yards in every 

 direction, but a little further back there were weeds and grasses growing sparingly, 

 in slightly richer soil. The j)ines cast their shade over it at morning and evening, 

 but through the middle of the day it lay in full sunlight. I could see no tracks of 

 bird or beast about it, and my companions had noticed none during their ])revious 

 visits. Yet it certainly was not a natural hollow, nor did it look like one scooped 

 out by the wind, for it had a well-marked rim, elevated above the surrounding 

 surface, and formed of sand that had been thrown up from within and very 

 evenly disposed on every side, as would hardly have been the case had the wind 

 had anything to do with its formation. It is possible that it had been dug by boys, 

 who may also have {)laced the eggs in it, perhaps for the purpose of playing 

 a practical joke on someone interested in birds. If so, the work was skillfully 

 done and all traces of its origin were carefully obliterated. To mv mind, however, 

 it is easier to believe that the eggs were laid by the bird in the hollow where 

 the ladies found them. She may have chosen it deliberately as a nesting-place — 

 which seems unlikely — or resorted to it without ])remeditation when about to 

 begin laying, and after having been driven from some tree or building, as is per- 

 haps more probable. If she dug the hollow, — which I doubt — it is difticult to 

 comprehend why she should have made it so very wide, unless, indeed, this was 

 necessary to secure and maintain the requisite depth, l)ecause of the loose char- 

 acter of the soil. 



That the eggs found in this singular nest (?) originally belonged to a Flicker 

 is beyond (|uestion, for ty])ical eggs of this s])ecies cannot be mistaken for those 

 of any other bird that breeds in New England, and these specimens were per- 

 fectly ty[)ical. Two of them were given to me by Mr. Stone and a third by Miss 

 Saltmarsh. In all three, as I found when I blew them on August 2, the contents, 

 although still licjuid and smelling abominably, had so shrunk in volume as to 

 fill barely one-half the space within the shell. From this I concluded that they 

 must have been laid a month or more earlier than the date on which they were 

 found, for neither yolk nor albumen will evaporate rapidly through the shells 

 of small bird eggs, even when they are fully exposed to the sun and wind in 

 dry summer weather. 



