108 



THE OOLOGIST 



Though not lai-ge, it contained many 

 very desirable sjiecimens inchuling, 



The nest and eggs of the Emerald 

 throated Hummingbird, and a set of 

 eggs and pair of adult skins of the 

 Cuban Martin from Buenos Ayres, and 

 of the rare Swallow-tailed Gull (Crea- 

 grus furcatus) from the Guadaloupe Is- 

 lands, and of the extremely rare Kirt- 

 land's Warbler, the latter accompan- 

 ied by the nest. 



With relation to this deal, a letter 

 from the daughter of Mr. Worthen 

 through whom the negotiations were 

 carried on, in finally closing up the 

 transaction, writes: 



"Mr. Barnes, I can't tell you how 

 grateful I am or how surprised as to 

 your final decision as to settlement. I 

 do not know how to thank you for 

 your courtesy, liberality and great 

 kindness to us in this affair." 



This collection came to hand with a 

 considerable number of broken spe- 

 cimens and a number lacking entirely 

 any data, and a number of others 

 where the set marks on the eggs fail- 

 ed to prove up with the data accom- 

 panying them. All such specimens 

 have gone into the waste heap. The 

 acquisition of these eggs, some 2500 in 

 number, will materially enlarge the 

 number cf our rarer series, and will 

 be a substantial addition to our cabi- 

 nets. 



Kill the Cowbird. 



Physicians say that the way to blot 

 out dangerous diseases is to prevent 

 their growth in infancy. Just as the 

 White Plague is a menace to the hu- 

 man race, so the cowbird is the White 

 Plague to our Bird Life. 



What do they do? Too shiftless to 

 build nests of their own, they lay their 

 eggs in nests of other birds. Not con- 

 tent with one cradle for their worth- 

 less young, a single cowbird will de- 



posit one or two eggs in as many as 

 four different nests. It has been es- 

 timated that one cowbird lays a set 

 of from four to six eggs. If she de- 

 posits two eggs in a nest, that means 

 that, after laying a complete set, the 

 female cowbird has disturbed three 

 nests. 



It is no uncommon occurrence for 

 these "Reprobates of Birdom" to spill 

 out the eggs of the rightful owners of 

 the nests in which they have layed. 

 Such an occurrence was experienced 

 by the writer not long ago. In fact 

 the experience gave the incentive for 

 this "Invective." 



On June 18th last, the author found 

 a cuckoo's nest with two cuckoo's 

 eggs in it and two cowbirds. The lat- 

 ter were promptly removed as they 

 always should be. On June 2'Oth, two 

 days later, the nest was again visited, 

 and the cuckoo's eggs were found 

 broken, on the ground beneath the 

 nest, while the structure itself held 

 two cowbirds eggs. Is it necessary 

 to state that the cuckoo deserted? 



Again — A wood thrush started a 

 nest not far from my home and had 

 got as far as laying two eggs in it 

 when she was disturbed by a cowbird 

 laying also two eggs in it. The thrush 

 immediately stopped laying and as her 

 full set would have been four, it can 

 readily be seen that the cowbird was 

 responsible for the absence of the 

 other two thrushes that ordinarily 

 would have been born. 



We will now trace the incubation 

 of the two thrushes eggs and the two 

 eggs of the cowbird, as it actually 

 happened. The thrushes eggs hatched 

 in due time and the young promised 

 to become perfect specimens of their 

 tribe. Mother Thrush patiently sat 

 on the two cowbird's eggs, which did 

 not hatch for three days after the 

 birth of her own young, for the reason 

 that they were laid approximately 



