THE OOLOGIST. 



19 



reasonable. We only regret that our cor- 

 respondc'Ut had not discovered this nest be- 

 fore, and kept a strict surveillance over it 

 and its owners, until the possessorship of 

 nest and eggs was fully deterniined. 



A Stray Egg. 



AN the 23rd of May, while passing thro' 

 ^ a pasture lot, 1 discovered a pair of Field 

 Sparrows {Spizella pusilla) building in a 

 low thorn bush, the bottom of tlie nest be- I 

 ing but two or three inches from the ground, j 

 Tlie nest was almost completed, the birds j 

 justputtiug the finishing touch to the lining. 

 On a subsequent visit five days later, 1 j 

 found the nest to contain five eggs, tour of 

 which undoubtedly belonged to the Spar- 

 rows, but the fifth was twice the size of the 

 others and differently marked. 



A lad who collected for me declai'ed it to 

 be a Meadow Lark's egis;, and stated that 

 he occasionally found them in this bird's 

 nest ; but on comparing the specimen with 

 those in the N. Y. State Museum, 1 found 

 it to belong to the Cow Bird. I saw in 

 the pasture a single pair of Cow Birds, male 

 and female ; but I failed to see others. I 

 would like to hear from the readers of The 

 OuLOGiST whether the Meadow Lark is ev- 

 er known to deposit its eggs in the nests of 

 other birds? Also, if it is common for the 

 Cow Bird to make use of the nest of this 

 particular Sparrow? I have frequently 

 heard of their encroaching on the nests of 

 the Chipping Sparrow and Yellow Bird. 

 On the same expedition 1 discovered the 

 nest of a Golden-winged Woodpecker. It 

 was in an old stump about ten feet from 

 the ground, and in it were nine eggs. Is 

 not this an unusual number for a single pair ? 

 Is tliis bird ever known to be a polygamist? 

 Thos. p. Bailey. 



The Meadow Lark never deposits its eggs 

 in the nests of other birds, nor does any 

 bird that is as universally careful in con- 

 cealing its own nest and protecting the 

 young. The egg, as probably also those 



referred to as having been seen in Sparrows' 

 nests by the lad, were deposited by Cow 

 Birds ; the nests of nearly all the Sparrows 

 as well as those of other small birds, arc 

 made the receptacles of these alien eggs, 

 and as a rule, one nest is as good as anoth- 

 er for the purpose. The Golden-winged 

 Woodpecker has been known to lay thir- 

 teen eggs, though not all in one clutch. It 

 is not polygamous, at least observations 

 have failed to jn'onounce it so. The Oolo- 

 GiST has published several items concerning 

 both the habit of the Cow Bird* and also 

 large sets of Flickers' eggsf. We hope our 

 correspondent will not depend upon farmer 

 boys for information concerning birds or 

 birds' eggs, unless they are known to be 

 thoroughly reliable, for they often entertain 

 ridiculous and entii-ely imfounded notions, 

 especially of bii'ds' eggs, brought about, 

 probably, by the exaggeration of some sup- 

 posed occurrence that has been handed 

 down, like a tradition, from generation to 

 generation. 



Oologtcal Notes for May, 



May 9. — Found nest of Shore Lark con- 

 taining one e^ig of tliat species and one of 

 the Cow Bunting. Nest was built on the 

 ground in a pasture. I have never heard 

 of a Cow Bunting's egg found in the nest 

 of this species before. May 15. — Found 

 nest of an Upland Plover containing four 

 eggs ; nest was built in a pasture ; eggs 

 fresh. — Barn Swallows have completed 

 nests. One pair I have l)een watching 

 started five nests before finally deciding to ^ 

 continue and finish the fifth. 1). H. Eaton. 



Oological Memoranda for April. — Mr. 

 D. D. Stone sends us the following memo- 

 randa of eggs taken in April : 



[CONTINUEU ON I'ACiE 24.] 



*Vide page 43 of volume I ; pages 35, 8.5 

 of vohime II; page 45 of volume 111 ; page 7 

 of volume IV.. 



tVide page 43 of volume I ; page 2 of vol- 

 inne II. 



