56 



ORKITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 13-No. 4 



A large series of eggs of this species show 

 many styles of markings, of various shades of 

 brown, on ground colors varying from a deli- 

 cate shade of greenish white to a medium green. 



[Six selected sets now before me may be thus 

 described : 



Set I. May 19, 1880, Canada. Collected by J. 

 E, Wagner. Four eggs, light pea green, 

 marked with spots and cloudings of drab and 

 Vandyke brown. In three of the eggs these 

 markings form indistinct wreaths near the 

 greater ends, and there are also a few laven- 

 der spots. In the other one the markings are 

 more evenly distributed all over the surface of 

 the egg: .80x..i6; 81x..56; .80 x .57 ; .SOx.57. 



Set II. June .3, 1S8U, Philadelphia County, 

 Pennsylvania. Collected by Isaac .S. Reitf. 

 Four eggs, bright pea green, heavily marked 

 with spots and blotches of sepia and bistre. The 

 markings are confluent at the greater ends, where 

 they entirely obsciue the ground color, leaving 

 the remainder of the surface comparatively 

 unmarked. They also have some cloudings of 

 drab: .76x.59; .79x..59; .79x..59; .74x.a0. 



Set III. June 8, 1884, Philadelphia County, 

 Pennsylvania. Collected by Isaac S. Reifl'. 

 Five eggs, dull pea green, clouded with drab, 

 and with a few spots of Vandyke brown: .84 x 

 .55; (an unusually large egg for this species) 

 .75x.5S; .79x..t7; .76x.58; .70 x .58. 



Set IV. May 30, 1882. Philadelphia County, 

 Pennsylvania. Collected by Isaac S. Reift". 

 Four eggs, light pea green, spotted with raw 

 umber, and clouded with drab. The markings 

 extend all over the surface of the eggs, but are 

 heavier at the gi-eater ends : .81 x .55 ; .80 x .50 ; 

 .80X.5G; .Six. 55. 



Set V. May 28, 1880. Philadelidiia County, 

 Pennsylvania. Collected by Isaac S. Reift'. 

 Five eggs, dull pea greeu clouded and spotted 

 with dial) and drab-gra)-. Also a few mark- 

 ings of bistre : .72x.5S; .74X.59; .71x.o7; .73 

 X.58; .74x .50. 



Set VI. May 28, 1886. Philadelphia County, 

 Pennsylvania. Collected by Isaac S. Reill". 

 Four eggs, dull pea green, clouded and spotted 

 over the whole surface with drab: .77x.59; .77 

 X.59; .78 x.58; .76 x .59. 



The eggs of this species can be distinguished 

 at a glance from those of the Song Sparrow 

 {Melospiza fasciata) by the peculiar clouded 

 and indistinct appearance of the markings of 

 the former. The eggs of 31. fasciata^ on the 

 contrary, as a rule have smaller markings and 

 much more distinct ones, while the clouded ef- 

 fect of those of AT. palustris is entirely want- 

 ing.— J. P. N.] 



A Few Bird Notes. 



BV IIEXRV HAI.ES, RIDGEwOOD. X. J. 



While visiting a friend at Guilford, Conn., 

 last winter, I called on Capt. O. N. Brooks, the 

 veteran of Faulkner's Island Lighthouse, and 

 an Ornithologist, who showed me a singularly 

 colored Crow that was shot a few miles east of 

 that place 



I do think it can be called an albino, as it had 

 not a particle of white, or even black in its plu- 

 mage; the bill and legs were black. The color 

 of its whole body was a rich drab, with pinkish 

 or purplish tinge, lighter on breast, the deepest 

 shades on upper back and shoulders were 

 slightly more slaty. There were two of these 

 crows seen together in company witli other 

 crows all through the fall, but could not be ap- 

 proached within gunshot till hard weather set 

 in, when one was procured; the other was 

 watched for a long time after, but could not 

 be reached. 



In June, 1880, in Northern New Jersey, I 

 saw a Purple Finch {Carpodaciis purpureus), un- 

 der a church horse-shed, he was on the beams 

 apparently to enjoy the shade. I thought I 

 must have been mistaken, but a neighbor who 

 had shot ine some during the early part of last 

 spring, told me he had seen a pair about his 

 house early last June. He killed the male bird 

 and brought it to me, which I have no doubt 

 was breeding in this locality. This is the first 

 instance I have known of the Purple Finch 

 breeding in New Jersey. 



An Olive-backed Ttirush was picked up in 

 30th Street, near Madison avenue. New York, 

 early one morning in the beginning of October, 

 without having an appearance of bei:ig hurt, 

 yet from his manner he, was not a cage bird. 

 After being well fed a tew days, he was released 

 in Central Park, which he evidently appreciated. 



The same friend who cared for the Olive 

 Back, had a Brown Thrasher roost at night for 

 three weeks late in September, and the l^egiu- 

 niug of October, in a honeysuckle on the end of 

 his rear stoop, 36th Street, near Fifth avenue. 

 The back yard has a flower bed all around, and 

 a good smooth cut grass plot in the centre, 

 which was very full of worms. The bird 

 staj'ed and took a good breakfast of worms 

 every morning early, then disappeared till 

 evening; every day most likely he was ott' to 

 the Central Park. The yards between the rows 

 of houses here are very small, which adds to the 

 singularity of the bird's choice, but the one he 



