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tHE OOLOGIST 



rods of each other, the fourth in a mea- 

 dow quite a distance from the first 

 three. 



Perhaps a description of these "finds" 

 might be of interest. 



Set No. 1, was taken in June 1888, 

 and contained five fresh eggs. Gi'ound 

 color, light greenish, uniformly mottled 

 over the entii-e surface with light cho- 

 colate brown. Average measurements 

 .84 X .60. The nest was a hollow in the 

 ground, lined with fine grass. 



Set No. 2, found March 19, 1890, con- 

 tained two eggs and as no more were 

 laid, the two were taken March 24th. 

 The ground was covered with snow at 

 the time, to a depth of three inches. 

 The parent bird sat close and fallowed 

 the writer to walk in a circle around 

 her till within six feet of the nest, be- 

 fore rising. One of the eggs was mark- 

 ed similar to those in set No. 1, but 

 darker, the other was wholly different 

 in coloi'ation, having the marking col- 

 lected in a dark greenish- brown wreath 

 around the larger end, leaving the 

 grayish white back ground clear at 

 both extremities of the egg. The speci- 

 mens measure .84 x .65, and .84 x .63 

 respectively. The nest was a hollow 

 in a bunch of sod, lined with dried 

 grass, and contained a few tufts of 

 thistle-down. 



Set No. 3, taken March 31, 1891 num- 

 bered four fresh eggs nearly uniform in 

 size and coloring. Each has the mark- 

 ings arranged in a confluent circle of 

 dark sage-green around the larger end, 

 the remainder of the egg being sparsly 

 spri!ikled with bi'ownish drab. The 

 specimens in this set are unusually 

 elongated, as the following measure- 

 ments will show: 1 x .62, .94 x .62, .94 

 x.63 and .94 x .62. The nest was com- 

 pactly built of dried grass stems, and 

 rootlets, lined on the bottom with this- 

 tle-down, the rim of the nest rising two 

 inches above the ground. 



Nest No. 4, was found while rolling 

 a meadow April 15, 1892. It was com- 



posed of dried grass and was lined with 

 — five 3'oung birds just in the down. I 

 should have been much better pleased 

 to have found five eggs, but the old 

 bird had the "drop" on me this time, 

 so I turned out and left the downy ol- 

 ive bi'anches unmolested. 



I came upon all of these nests ac- 

 cidentally. I don't know how it is 

 with other collectors but it is almost 

 invariably 'just my luck," never to find 

 a nest when I am looking for it. 



"Straggler" 

 Medina,N. Y. 



Plumage- 



Among the many subjects discussed 

 through the columns of the Oologist, 

 wide and varied as has been the range, 

 1 have never j'et seen reference to the 

 construction and characteristics of 

 plumage as a whole, regardless of spe- 

 cies. One contributor has remarked — 

 "Let us first study bones and muscles 

 and then feathers. " To the anatomist 

 this certainly is logic, but from an or- 

 nithological stand point the plumage 

 appears to demand priority. Reader 

 did you ever stop to consider the com- 

 Innation of beauty lightness, and 

 strength displayed by a feather, not 

 necessarily the gem from the ruby gor- 

 get of a Hummer, not the plume worth 

 its weight in gold from the wings of the 

 mammoth among birds, l^ut an ordi- 

 nary secondary, from the wing of, pos- 

 sibly, the most homely, or perhaps 

 more properly, the leist beautiful of 

 all the birds. 



First we ha've the quill, which is a 

 semi-transparent horny tube, contain- 

 ing in its cavity a series of tissue cap- 

 sules, united by a central pedicle. At 

 its lower extremity is the orifice, 

 through which the feather draws its 

 sustaining fluids from the body. 



A continuation of the quill is theshaft, 

 convex on the back, and presenting a 

 longitudinal groove beneath. A 



