THE OOLOGIST. 



whether the editor of the Oologist or 

 the waste basket has the greater appe- 

 tite for hash. 



John V. Cbone, 

 Mai'athon, Iowa. 



The Carolina Wren- 



This is the most uunierous represen- 

 tative of this beautiful family in this 

 part of the year (March.) It raises two 

 broods every year, nesting very early 

 in Louisiana. I (M)llected a set of four 

 partly incubated eggs on March 16,1893. 

 Later the House Wren exceeds its 

 cousin in abundance. I found a set of 

 five eggs on March 24 1893. These are 

 the earliest on record for this vicinity, I 

 think. 



H. L. Ballowe. 



242 Prytania St', New Orleans, La. 



A SET OF FIVE OF THE PRAIRIE 

 HORNED LARK. On April 1>, 1892. 

 a fi'iend and in vself started on a searcli 

 for eggs of this species. Our first find 

 was a very exceptional set of five nor- 

 mally colored eggs, which on blowing 

 proved slightly incubated. This is the 

 first set of over four I ever found, and 

 find three more commonly than four in 

 this locality. We were afterwards re- 

 warded with two sets of three each. 

 J. H Bkown. 

 Davenport, Iowa. 



BARTRAMIAN SANDPIPER Bar- 

 tramia lougicauda. This typical species 

 of our western prairies, commonly called 

 Field Plover, nests from May 1st to 

 July 1st in this latitude. I have al- 

 ways found the nest protected and 

 placed on the ground in a bunch of 

 grass, on high prairie 



Dk. W. Morgan Makpin, 

 Wellington, Kaus. 



up on a horizontal limb. The cotton- 

 wood stood in an open grove or with a 

 few other trees near the river. The 

 bird could be plainly seen as the nest 

 was rather small. 'J'he nest had been 

 built by the birds and was composed of 

 dead Cottonwood sticks and bark strips 

 lined v\ ith feathers from the parent's 

 breast. Edmund Hellek, 



Riverside, Cal. 



On April 12th of this year I secured 

 a nice set of three eggs of the i-are 

 Spotted Owl. The nest was situated 

 in a Cottonwood about thirty-five teet 



A Mammoth Egg. 



"We now come," said Mr. J. C. Stev- 

 ens, at his auction-rooms in King street. 

 Covent Garden, says the Pall Mall Ga- 

 zette, '-to the egg of theiEpyornis maxi- 

 mus, the biggest bird either living or 

 extinct. It has been extinct for some 

 time, and only two of its bones have 

 been found. According to the cata- 

 logue the bird was more than ten feet 

 high and was fiightless." 



"I shotild think so," said a prospective 



"It would seem to me," said Mr. Stev- 

 ens, "that the bird that laid this egg 

 must have been something like 35 feet 

 high — about as high as a house. You 

 will see by the catalogtie that it 

 measures Mi inches in its longest cir- 

 cumference and 28 inches in girth. This 

 egg is several inches larger than the egg 

 we sold last year. It is, of course, a 

 great rarity, and not more than thirty 

 of these eggs are known. This I think, 

 is the finest egg of the lot. It should be 

 remembered that there are sixty known 

 eggs of the (ireat Auk, and they sell 

 for 200 guineas each. I don't mean to 

 say that this eg^ should bring as much 

 as a Great Auk's egg, but we sold one 

 not so good as; this last year for 70 

 guineas." 



The egg was passing from hand to 

 hand in a wooden box while the auction- 

 eer was speaking. It looked too large 

 for an egg though in other respects it 

 seemed natural enough. It was not dif- 

 ficult to understand iiow a bird that had 

 laid such an egg had become extinct. 

 The egg is of a l)rownish-gray color and 

 sounds like j)orcelain when it is 

 drummed on with the knuckles. The 

 bird that was accustome 1 to lay this 

 egg lived, it is snid, in Madagascar and 

 buried its egg in the sand. It is only 

 possible to tind the egg by digging 

 in the sand, and more eggs may yet be 

 found, as a good deal of the seashore of 

 Madagascar lias not been due up yet. 



The egg^was finally sold for 67 guin- 

 eas. 



