28 Illinok State Lahoratory of Natural Hintory. 



a season, but if deprived of their tirst and second sets, 

 a third is deposited. In the series of seventy sets of 

 prothonotary warblers' egg-g described by J. Parker 

 Norris, Esq., in the Ornithologist and Odlogist (Vol. XV., 

 pp. 177-182), nearly all of which were collected in or 

 near the State of Illinois, there are thirty-two sets con- 

 taining six eggs each, eighteen containing five, fifteen of 

 seven, three of four, and two of eight. 



The coloration of the eggs is a broad subject, and were 

 I to do it justice, the text would be voluminous. I have 

 examined many, and have found a limitless variation in 

 their markings. I find two, three, four, and even more, 

 types of coloration in a large series of eggs, and have 

 selected for description, from a series of my own, seven 

 sets fairh' representing these types. 



Set. I. Six eggs. Ground a glossy white, blotched at 

 larger ends with chestnut and lilac. Rest of surface more 

 or less spotted, speckled, and seemingly streaked, with 

 light chestnut. Two of the eggs have the larger ends 

 entirely covered with large blotches of rich chestnut, 

 and another has a large blotch of light brown overlap- 

 ping lilac, producing an intermediate color. 



Set. II. Six eggs. These eggs resemble those of a 

 wren in their markings, the whole surface being marked 

 with light chestnut and lilac, not blotched, but so finely 

 speckled that the ground of the larger ends is nearly' 

 obscured. 



Set III. Four eggs. Ground glossy white, covered with 

 blotches of pale lilac and light chestnut. The former are 

 large, hlac being the predominating color on two of the 

 eggs. The chestnut is streaked and daubed on in very 

 small blotches, one of the specimens, however, having 

 two large chestnut blotches on one side. The colors seem 

 to run into each other, giving the eggs a daubed ap- 

 pearance. 



Set IV. Four eggs. These are beautiful eggs. The 

 colors are a rich chestnut and a shade that is nearer 

 lavender than the lilac of other specimens, a purple effect 



