18 



THE OOLOGIST 



" He had also oinitted telling me that there 

 Avas another Robin's nest a little below and 

 about eight feet distant from this one, con- 

 taining four Robin's eggs when he was there 

 and three young and one egg when I visit- 

 ed it. The Crow Blackbirds' nests were 

 ueither of them nearer than fifteen feet to 

 the one in which we are interested. One 

 of them was directly opposite this one on 

 the other side of the shed. The other was 

 at one end of the shed, fastened in a niciie 

 iu the rafter next the roof. The Robin's 

 nest which I found with young was an or- 

 dinary nest, but the one from which the 

 nondesci'ipt egg was taken is as much of a 

 puzzle to me as the egg itself. It is evi- 

 dently a Blackbird's nest, being composed 

 externally of weed-stalks and coarse grass- 

 es. The shed, which is a small log struct- 

 ure, roughly boarded on the outside, stands 

 iu the middle of a pasture, with a single 

 good-sized locust tree close by, on which 

 there were con.stantly at least six or eight 

 Crow Blackbirds and a Red-wing while I 

 was there ; I saw no Robin near but tlie 

 pair that owned the nest with the young- 

 birds. The non-named nest was firmly im- 

 bedded in a crevice between the second log 

 from the top and the boards beforemention- 

 ed. The liobin's nest was merely placed 

 on the top of a log. This pair of Robins 

 seemed in perfect harmony with the Black- 

 birds." 



Data of Nest and E(j<js : 



BIRD I EGGS I 



Eobin. 1 1 



Crow Blackbh-d 1 



1 1 



LOCALITY 



Washington, Penna. 



COLLECTORS 



Wiley Warrick and 

 W. T. Warrick. 



DATE 

 May 4th, 1878 



Xest composed of, outside : coarse grasses 

 end weed-stalks, witli wool and nuid ; inside: 

 rather tine timothy grasses, with some of the 

 heads, but no mud plastering on the inside. 



Situation. — In a crevice between a log and 

 tlie boai'ds whicli formed the sides of a small 

 sheep-shed. 



Idextificatiox. — IJobin found upon nest. 



Size of Xest. — Diameter, outside, 7 inclies ; 

 inside, 3.75 inches. Depth, outside, 4.r)0 indi- 

 es; inside, 2. ;")() inclies. 



The general description of the nest and 

 its position relative to that of the Robin's 

 nest, points to its identity with the nests of 

 the Bhickbirds, though perhaps its depth is 

 exceptional. Yet, in the face of these and 

 one or two other minor circumstances, the 

 discovery of the Robin upon the nest, which 

 moreover, (contained three entirely difter- 

 entl^^ proportioned, dimensioued and color- 

 ed eggs, would naturally educe one or two 

 conclusions : That a Robin had mated with 

 a Crow Bhickbird ; or that a Robin had 

 taken the nest of the latter species and had 

 laid one egg tlierein, after it had been de- 

 serted by the Blackbirds and the two eggs 

 were deposited by them ; or, possibly, that 

 all the eggs belonged to a pair of Black- 

 birds, whose nest the Robin, for some un- 

 accountable reason had taken possession of. 

 The first supposition seems to us more in 

 accordance with the circumstances, though 

 certainly the fact of the joint harmony of 

 such dissimihir species, notwitlistanding its 

 entire possibility, and even probability, is 

 open to oi)iniou and argument ; the two 

 latter are worthy of reflection in accordance 

 with the stress of the evidence of what ap- 

 pears to us the mi'ior circumstances. 



'J'he egg is ovoidal, measuring 1.08 inch- 

 es in length and .70 inch in breadth. It 

 is, in every respect, as is also the supposed 

 Robiu's egg, entirely abnormal from eggs 

 of Q. 'purpureas in size and coloring. It 

 would seem difficult to accustom us to the 

 belief that all three specimens belonged to 

 the Blackbirds, and yet it could not be said 

 with any certainty, that the production of 

 such a union as we have supposed, could 

 be anticipated in eggs marked and dimen- 

 sioned like those jbimd. We ofit!r the a- 

 bove remarkable case, if so it be, to our 

 readers, for such theory as is deemed ex- 

 planatory or dissatisfactory, remembering 

 that, though the laws of nature are so sel- 

 dom transgressed in this direction, the oc- 

 currence of an extraordinary abnormity 

 should not be regarded as impossible or un- 



