THE OOLOGIST. 



201 



male Merganser flew away from the 

 island as our sail boat approached but 

 the females sat close, dashing out of 

 the dark passages as we searched 

 among the bowlders. 



On this same island several Red- 

 breasted Megansers had nests, but 

 these were built under dense under- 

 growth and not at the end of dark 

 passages like the American Merganser 

 nests. The Red-breasted Mergansers' 

 nests contained 8 and 9 eggs each, 

 they are smaller than American Mer- 

 gansers' eggs, averaging 2.50 x 1.70, 

 the tint of the eggs is a yellowish drab 

 and entirely different to those of the 

 American Merganser, the down also is 

 much darker being of a deep warm 

 greyish tint. Both ducks are very 

 destructive to fish and are therefore 

 disliked by the fishermen. They are 

 known to gunners as sawbills and their 

 flesh is rank and unpalatable. 



Late Nesting of Vireo Olivaceus. 



Richard F. Miller. 



The Red-eyed Vireo ( Vireo olivaceus) 

 annually rears two brood of young in 

 Northeastern Philadelphia county, 

 Penn., the first brood in June and the 

 second late in July or early in August 

 at the latest, in my experience, Aug- 

 ust 25th, the second brood has been 

 hatched and left the nest to begin the 

 battle of life and to wage incessant 

 warfare upon the noxious woodland 

 insects. But it is not about the habits 

 of this well known bird that I wish to 

 speak, as my studies of its habits 

 does not differ very much from what 

 have been written about it by more 

 observant students. What I want 

 to record is the finding of a late nest, 

 probably the lattest on record. 



The nest in question was found on 

 September 8, 1897, in Juniata Park, at 

 Frankford, Philadelphia County, 

 Penn. It contained 3 eggs, all fresh, 

 which I collected with the nest. It 



was situated 18 feet up in a maple, 

 well in the wood, suspended from a 

 small horizontal crotch 12 feet from 

 the trunk. It was a typical nest com- 

 posed of the usual combination of 

 materials and handsomely ornament- 

 ed—if the spiders' webs and cocoons 

 of caterpiller attached to the outside 

 can be called ornamentions; it was 

 loosely woven to the fork. The eggs 

 were of normal size, ovate in shape, in 

 color white, wreathed with black dots 

 and spots on the long ends. 



Now for some suppositions. If I had 

 left the nest and eggs they would re- 

 quire 10 or 12 days in which to incu- 

 bate and would have hatched on Sept- 

 ember 18-20, probably on the 18th as 

 the bird would sit and brood more 

 closely and oftener, owing to the late- 

 ness of the season. Reasoning that 

 the young hatched on the 18th they 

 would be confined to the nest 10 or 12 

 days, before being able to leave it, 

 leaving it probably by October 1st, and 

 for the next few days they would need 

 the constant care and feeding of their 

 parents before being able to take 

 care of themselves. It would have 

 been October 4-5 before they would be 

 able to hunt their own food. 



Octeber 5! And in less than two 

 weeks the Red-eye migrates to their 

 warm winter home, as my lattest fall 

 record during 7 years of consecutive 

 field observations is October 18, 1897 at 

 this locality— Frankford. 



Even had all of the young hatched 

 all or at least two of them would have 

 perished, not from the effects of the 

 cold, although they would have suffer- 

 ed somewhat, but from the lack of 

 food, for at this season of the year 

 most of the insects on which the Red- 

 eye feed are scarce, and they feed to a • 

 large extent on berries, such as poke, 

 gum, dogwood and golden bell (Forsy. 

 thia viridissenia) . But I have never 

 observed them feed these berries to 

 their young for obvious reason — never 



