THE OOLOGIST. 



235 



L<\itlu'r-l('af, a bush which grcnvs to the 

 liiffht of two to two and one-half feet, 

 scatti-red al)out in this are shnibs and 

 Imshes whieh are somewliat higher. 

 As J ai)proaehed a rather tidn clump 

 of l)ushes a hawk flew up, and after 

 going iifteen or twenty rods, Mdieel- 

 ed about and niad(! a bee line for me 

 till within about a rod's distance then 

 turned and uttered a cackle. This it 

 lepeated a few times l>ut finding I did 

 not scare Avorth a cent, (juietly flew 

 awa}' to a percli where she could watcli 

 me. 



When 1 icachetl the bushes I found 

 the nest whicii was composed of dry 

 liay, lain on some sticks. The exterior 

 diameter was fifteen inches, while the 

 interior was six inches and it was hol- 

 lowed an inch and a half. It was 

 l)lac( (1 oil tile ground and as j'et I have 

 never found one on any sort of a hum- | 

 mock. In the nest were fiv(? eggs of a ; 

 dirty white color with a bluish tint. ! 

 Tlierc were some; indistinct spots on 

 them <tf a brownish color, ifnd I miglit ! 

 say that only one egg out of twenty-two 

 tliaf I have collected, had real distinct 

 natural spots. 



The ground was very dry al^out tiie 

 liawk's nest and had been plowed 

 witliin ten rods of it last spring, and as 

 ,ili of till' nests which I have examined 

 were in com])aratively dry places, I 

 comlude that tiie spots on eggs so often 

 spoken of liy collectors were in many 

 cases raused by tlieir coming in con- 

 tact witji the wet material of the nest 

 and thus stained, as the eggs of the 

 (iuail often are. The measurement of 

 the live eggs are as follows: 1.80x1.40, 

 l.7oxl.3i», 1.80x1.39, l.T!)xl.41, 1.78xL41. 

 According to my observation tlie Marsh 

 Hawk will not lay tlu' third time in one 

 season. 'I'he mimlier of eggs is gener- 

 ally five, sometimes four or six. 



Ai.i"i!i:iJ W. CoMFoirr. 



Tecumseh, jNIich. 



Trying to Hatch Rotten Eggs. 



I noticed in the Oolooist sometime 

 ago, some one .speaking of iinding a 

 Red-tailed Hawk sitting on a nest which 

 contained a single rotten egg. July 

 18th of this year ('89) I liad occasion to 

 cross a pasture; early in the morning, 

 and was not a little sin-prised to see a 

 Yellow-shafted Flicker's head project- 

 ing from a hole in a dead tree fifteen feet 

 up. Wondering what Imsiness a Flicker 

 could have in a hole this time a year, 1 

 determined to see. So with the aid of 

 a _^f(Mice-rail ami a little climl)ing I Avas 

 soon able to see into the hole. Upon 

 tearing a portion of the Avood away I 

 Iieheld fiAe shiny eggs, and as it Avas 

 rather late in tJie season for eggs I took 

 them, but Avhen I came to bloAv thei'u 

 I found them all rotten. I liaA-e oftimes 

 found nests witli one or perhaps tAvo 

 rotten eggs in, b.ut ncA-er before the 

 Aviiole lot. The old bird must have sit 

 on them for stnui; considerable time, 

 f(n- the eggs Aver(> extremely slick and 

 polished. 



T. (i. Pk.', usox, 



ArcJier, Fla. 



Odd Eggs of the Gala. ToAvhee. 



Tliinking tlie sul)j«'ct of all)inoism in 

 eggs might be of interest to some of tin; 

 readers of The Oologist, I quote the 

 foUoAving from my note-book. 



"On June 8th, '89, Avhile collecting in 

 Eaton's Canon, C'ala., I found a set of 

 all)ino eggs of th<; California BroAvn 

 ToAvhee. The eggs Avei'e three in num- 

 l)ei- and of the usual size. The ground 

 color Avas Avliite, marked Avith a fcAV 

 spots of chocolate, Wlien I discoA'ered 

 the nest tiie l)ird Avas sitting on it, but 

 to make sure of the identity I shot liei-. 

 She pi-oved to be an adult female, i)er- 

 fectly marked. 



W. R. 

 Pasadena. Cala. 



