April 1888.] 



a:n'd oologist. 



59 



There l);ive been at least three Goshawks 

 (AMur ufrinijiilliis). killoil in this County the 

 past year. 



Red-Polls aiid Crcissliills are all the iioithcrii 

 visitors I have Ik aid ot 1 his winter. altlioii>;h 

 there may he otliers about, ".s T have had no 

 time to tianip since last fall. 



These loeal notes will, I lio|)e, interest the 

 readers of the O. & O. ^'Mioially, but they cer- 

 tainly will those who have the List of Oiiindu 

 Counlij liiiih .-IS adilitions to that list. 



Runt Eggs. 



BY i;i;iii-,irr ii.\(ir., Lric.\. nkw vohk. 



Readiiii; the Oological Editors notes on 

 " Hunt E^u;s " iu the December, 18S7, number 

 of The; ()i;ni ( iiiii.ocisr .\\l) Oologi.st, with 

 much intcn'st, 1 am induced, iu the hope of in- 

 teresting some one idse, to reeoid two runt sets 

 which are in my collection. 



The tirst is a set of two eggs of the Cliesniit- 

 sided Warbler {Dcndrau'd jifnnnylcdnka), col- 

 lected July 20, 1SS2, at Holland Patent, N. Y. 

 These eggs measure .'li x .38 and .52 x .37, while 

 the normal size is about .G8 x .50. 



The second set is, or rather was, a set of 

 three of the Canada Flycatching Warblei' {Mi/- 

 iiidiiictcii caiiaili'iisis), collected in Wilmurt, 

 N. Y., on .June 30, 18SU. One of these eggs was 

 broken, henc(; tlie '• was" above. The remain- 

 ing two measure .54 x .45 and .50x43; the 

 usual size being about .08 x .31 Both these sets 

 are perfect miniatures of normal ones. 



In reading these figures, unless very well 

 used to i-omparing such objects, the dittereuce 

 iu size is not appreciated, and as they are rather 

 too small aiul didicate eggs to try Mr. lloxie's 

 dust-shot experiments with, 1 suggest that the 

 reader draw the outline of one of these runts 

 of the correct size, and then draw the normal 

 size beside it : or remembering from his school 

 days, that the volumes of two spheres are to 

 each other as the cubes of their diameters (as- 

 suming eggs to be spheres), lie will see that the 

 normal egg contains about two and a half 

 times the contents of the " runt." 



The article on the albino eggs of the I'loiida 

 Towhee, also reminds me th.it I have a beauti- 

 ful set of four albino eggs of the Bobolink 

 {DiilidiiiHij.r orijsiporns), collected near Utica, 

 N. Y., in .lune, 1872, 'I'hey are a pale bluish- 

 gray, with a few blackish marks and scratches 

 about the larger end, and look about as little 

 like a normal set of Bobolinks, as one can pos- 

 sibly imagine. 



The Black-throated Green War- 

 bler at Grand Manan. 



II V i;i.\vr\ 



Al'KX, CANTDN, MASS. 



.June 13, 1887, at Seal Cove, (Jiand .Manau, 

 opened with an indescribably beautiful morn- 

 ing. The tishing boats lay off the shore retlect- 

 ing their masts and sails with nncominon pre- 

 cision in the pale blue water, with nothing to 

 disturb the stillness of the early hour exicpt- 

 ing the oci'asional sciimiiis of Herring (Julls 

 that coursed to and fro <'ageily seeking their 

 morning repast. This was the first warm morn- 

 ing we had experienced since our departure 

 from Massachusetts, and with eidlecting im- 

 plements and a linich I started for the wmids in 

 high spirits. 



I had traveled all day collecting a few eggs 

 and small birds, until about an hour before sun- 

 set I came upon an old cart-path used in winter 

 for the puipose of hauling wood. .As I saun- 

 tered along homeward, I saw ahead of me liy 

 the side of the path, a stunted spruce of dense 

 foliage about three and one-half feet in height: 

 saying to myself, " What a idee plac<' for a 

 nest." .\s 1 approached I saw (piile a (pi.intity 

 of cattle-hair hanging to one of the branches, 

 which I examined and then dropped to the 

 ground. Further investigation displayed a 

 well concealed iincumpleted nest. .\s none of 

 the birds about seemeil inteioteil. and having 

 but the day previous found a Ulark-pidl War- 

 bler's (DeiKlroiat striata), nest turned upside 

 down with its lining of gull featliers strewn 

 about, I at at once concluded that it hiid been 

 roblied and I continued homeward. Having oc- 

 casion to again take this path on the afternoon 

 of the Uith. my curiosity was led to make 

 another investigation, and I found th.at the hair 

 which I had dropped the few days previous had 

 been taken and nicely pl:iccd in the nest with 

 the addition of some plant down. I at once 

 began to look for the owner, but no one putting 

 in a claim, I retreated some titty or sixty feet 

 and sat down at the b ise of a large spruce 

 tree a" aitiiig the return of the proprietor, but 

 only to try my |)atienee and slauglitei black 

 Hies f(M' nearly two hours. I had now become 

 extremely interested in this little nest and re- 

 solvetl to repeat my visit on the morrow, wViich 

 resulted in finding an egg, but 1 was iinal>le to 

 obtain a glimpse of the parents. 



Having made arrangements to leave the Is- 

 land on Sunday morning by the way of 



