152 



0E1^[ITH0L0GIST 



[Vol. 13-No. 10 



blown, only to find that when they liad dried 

 they h:id ulinost entirely lost tlieir greenish 

 tint. 



I liiivc siM'ti efrg>i of the Kastcrn Nighthawli 

 {Chdrdcih's jiopHite) dry several sliades lighter 

 than they were when unblown, and onee I re- 

 ceived a beautiful set of eggs of the Cluiek- 

 wills-Widow (Aiiti-dslomiis caniUiifttxis) from 

 one of my eoUeetors in Mississippi Just after 

 they had been taken and blown, and was mueh 

 disgusted to find their pale brown markings 

 fading day by day, although they were care- 

 fully kept in a dark drawer. When these eggs 

 fii-st eanie they were entirely different from any 

 of the other nine sets in the series, but now they 

 could hardly be distinguished from them. 



Again, this past season I received a large 

 series of sots of eggs of the Olive-backed Thrush 

 {HijlocicMa ustxdatn svainsoni), from one of mj- 

 New Brunswick collectors, and some of them 

 had been taken only a few days before. As 

 soon a.s they were blown he had wrapped them 

 up in raw cotton, packed them in their nests, 

 and sent them to me. On unpacking them sev- 

 eral of the sets were of a brighter blue than 

 any eggs of this species that I had ever seen 

 before, but they speedily faded to a tint that 

 was uniform with the others. My theory is 

 that while wrapped in the raw cotton the air 

 had no chance to get in the blow hole and dry 

 them, and therefore did not fade. When un- 

 packed, however, this was not the case, and 

 hence their fading. 



Some Curious Sets of Eggs. 



Set I. Four eggs of the Red and BufT should- 

 ered Blackbird, {Ai/ekeus phcenicevs). Three of 

 these very closely resembled the eggs of the 

 American Bittern, (Botaurus lentiyiiwsns). In 

 ground color No. 1 has a wreath around the 

 larger end of very fine lines. No. 2 has also a 

 wreath around the lai-ger end, the lines being 

 much heavier, with a heavy black spot neai-ly 

 in the centre about one-eighth of an inch in 

 diameter. No. 3 has a few fine lines on one 

 side leading from the larger eiid. No 4 has the 

 tj'pical ground color of the species without a 

 mark. 



Set II. Four eggs of the Great Crested Fly- 

 catcher, (3Iijiafchus crinitus). All of these 

 have a delicate creamy ground color a trifle 

 darker than found in fresh eggs of the Acadian 

 Flycatcher, {Kiiipidoimx ((caiUcus) before they 



are blown. In Nos. 1 and 2 the markings are 

 all at the larger end forming a solid color, the 

 ground color being entirely hidden. Nos. 3 

 and 4 have al.so the larger end covered, being 

 sparingly marked with tine short dashes cover- 

 ing about one half the eggs, the smaller ends 

 being entirely plain. 



Set III. Four eggs of the Brown Thrasher, 

 (Ildi-pfirhynchus rnfus). Three of these have a 

 delicate bluish ground color, somewhat re- 

 sembling tile ground color of the Curved-billed 

 Thi'asher, {Harporhyndius curvirostris) W'ith the 

 markings all around the larger end forming a 

 wreath, the remaining parts of the eggs being 

 without marks shows of the bluish tint more 

 decidedly than in the eggs of the Curved-billed. 

 The fourth egg is what might be called a typi- 

 cal specimen of the species. 



Set IV. Two eggs of the Brown Thrasher, 

 {Harporhynchus rufus). These have a heavy 

 dark green ground color with the usual fine 

 brown pin specks evenly distributed over the 

 eggs. Thei-e are no eggs I have ever seen that 

 I can compare them with, it being a peculiar 

 shade. The pair of birds that built the nest 

 these eggs were taken from, were carefully 

 watched by a friend of mine, from the time the 

 nest was started in an old brush pile that lay in 

 the orchard, only a short distance from the 

 house. After the first egg was deposited, see- 

 ing the peculiar color and being anxious to 

 secure the whole set, he kept a close watch over 

 the birds and nest to see that no stray "tabby" 

 or anything else molested them. On the fol- 

 lowing day there was another egg deposited, 

 but the next three days passed by without any 

 mure eggs being added, although the birds re- 

 mained around and often visited the nest. As 

 three days had passed without adding any 

 more to the set, he secured the two eggs, being 

 afraid, as he told me, that if he did not take 

 them .something might destroy them. 



It has always been a debatable question be- 

 tween us whether the female was not ready to 

 complete her complement, or after laying the 

 two eggs and they being so entirely diil'erent 

 from what she or any of her sister birds of 

 that species had probably ever deposited, it she 

 did not think nature was playing a joke on her 

 and becoming disgusted, after holding a consul- 

 tation with her partner, they decided to desert 

 this nest, build another and try again. They 

 are certainly a curious pair of eggs, and could 

 not be mistaken for any other species, for leav- 

 ing out the ground color, they resemble a typi- 

 cal egg of the Brown Thrasher, but are a trifle 

 smaller than the average. 



