60 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 13-No. 4 



Southern Head in one of tlie fishi'imarrs bo:its, 

 that we might see tlie high-colored rocliy clift's, 

 gulls, and guillemots from the water, I rose 

 early for the purpose of visiting " my nest " 

 for the last time, hoping that I might have the 

 pleasuie of identifying the owners and finding 

 a couple more eggs. Slowlj' and cautiously 

 approaching until within two or tliree feet of 

 the nest, 1 could see through a small opening 

 in the fui/.e the long-looked for bird, which to 

 my surprise was a Hlack-lhroated Green War- 

 bler (Dendroica virens). 



Putting forward my hand, she darted out and 

 alighted on an alder about five feet from me, 

 when she commenced pluming her feathers as 

 if unconceined. But still more was I surprised 

 to find tliat the nest contained four eggs, three 

 of which had been laid between the afternoon 

 of the 17th atiil the morning of the I'Jth, a dura- 

 tion of thirty-four hours. As I had formerly 

 associated this species with pines and hemlocks, 

 I was no little astoni.shed to find it building so 

 near the ground, so shy during the process of 

 building, and the nest and eggs differing slight- 

 ly from my previous collections. The nest now 

 helore me is outwardly composed of a few min- 

 ute twigs of dried spruce, fine grasses, strips of 

 bark and two kinds of moss, with wool and 

 small weed-stalks interwoven. The interior is 

 firm and synnnetrical and well lined with hair, 

 with an inter-lining of orange-colored plant 

 down and soft feathers. The eggs are dull 

 white in ground color, with a faint yellowish 

 tinge, irregularly marked over the entire sur- 

 face with lilac, dark and leddish-brown, but 

 confluentl}- forming a ring around the larger 

 ends. They are decidedlj' more pointed at 

 either end than any others I have seen, and 

 measure : ..50 x .6.). .51 x .04, .52 x .65, .49 x.63 

 inches. 



The Yellow Bellied Sapsucker in 

 Bristol County. 



BY .lOHX C. CAHOON, TAUNTON, .MASS. 



In the December number of the O & O., 1S87, 

 Mr. A. C. Bent writes that he has noticed the 

 omission from Mr. F. VV. Andros' list of birds 

 of this (Bristol) county, of several species 

 which occur tolerably regularly, and others 

 which are considered very rare or accidental. 

 He says : " The most noted of these specie is 

 the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker {Siphyrapcns va- 

 ries). This bird, by no means common, could 



hardly be overlooked by collectors of any ex- 

 perience."" 



I consider myself a collector of some little 

 experience, and have spent many days in the 

 woods of this county in the autumn, and I 

 have not taken or seen any of these wood- 

 peckers. I think that I could distinguish this 

 bird from an}' of the other woodpeckers, as I 

 saw and collected quite a number in Florida in 

 the winter of 1SS3-84. I have had many of the 

 New England Woodpeckers brought to me to 

 be stuffed and mounted, but none of the Yel- 

 low-bellied have been among the number. 



If included in the list of the birds of this 

 county, in my opinion it should be recorded as 

 very rare. From Mr. Bent's accounts, he has 

 certainly been more fortunate than either Mr. 

 Andros or myself, and I should like to ask Mr. 

 Bent if his three rei'ords of this bird for this 

 fall, were of specimens taken by himself, or 

 seen being without shot. 



A Runt Egg of the Black-Throated 

 Bunting. 



BY A. C. HAMMOND, JR. 



Seeing the article on " Runt Eggs and Their 

 Causes, in the December number of the O. & 

 O., I thought it would not be inappropriate to 

 give an instance of a runt egg of my experience. 



On .Tune 29, 1886, I found the nest of a Black- 

 throated Bunting {Spi.i<i ainericana), which con- 

 tained four fresh eggs. The nest was composed 

 of dry sage grass and was placed in some 

 blackberry vines. The patch of briars was only 

 about fifteen or twenty feet through, and was 

 in an open sage field ; but several nests of this 

 species were found in this patch of briars, in 

 some of which was incubation begun. The nest 

 in question was about two feet from the ground. 

 Three of the eggs were unusually large. They 

 measured .'M x .05 ; .93 x .65 ; and .90 x .65. The 

 average measurement of the eggs of thisspecues 

 is .80 X 00. 



The fourth egg, which is the small one, 

 measures .65 x .50, which is far below the aver- 

 age measurement, and much below the meas- 

 urements of the other eggs. 



This runt was most piobably caused by the 

 exaustion of the bird in laying the three large 

 eggs. The eggs are perfect in their shape, with 

 the exception of being a little more elongated 

 than the ordinary egg of this species. 



