34 



THE OOLOGIST 



may then be blown out. Water must fre- 

 quently be introduced into the shell, to pre- 

 vent the lye from becoming too strong. In 

 large eggs a small quantity of ammonia 

 may also be introduced to assist the j)io- 

 cess. Care must be taken, howevei-, not 

 to get any of the latter on the outside of tiie 

 shell, as it is sure to deface the coloring. 

 I successfully performed this operation on 

 an egg of the American Swan, which had 

 been brought me in tlie condition mentioned. 

 [Uefore this experiment is tried upon val- 

 uable eggs of small size, it is worth while 

 that we should offer a caution. 'J'he ex- 

 periment is an extremely hazardous one up- 

 on any but large eggs ; since not only may 

 it be impossibU^ for the tyro to obtain the 

 proper proportions of the injection, but the 

 use of any alkali or acid is attended with 

 more or less danger to the specimen. A 

 lye operating upon the inside of a tender 

 shell will dissolve it in a few moments, — 

 and would a strong one, uidess well dilu- 

 ted. The experiment /k/.s been successfully 

 tried by some collectoi's, but at best it is 

 attended with uiu-ertainty. — Ed.] 



four nearly fresh eggs. The nest was the 

 most shallow of any that I ever have tak- 

 en, not exceeding | of an inch in depth. 

 Had it not been for the full complement of 

 eggs, I sliould iiave thought it incomplete. 

 The pei'iod of incubation is fourteen days. 

 They leave here about the middle of Sep- 

 tember. Jf there was plenty of time for 

 this last case to hatch and get away in sea- 

 son, why not others? I have alwavs tho't 

 that only one brood was raised in New 

 England ; still, in the more southern parts 

 two may be the rule instead of the excep- 

 t'o"- B. J. Peckham. 



Nesting of Contopus virens. 



TX your No. 5 of Vol. III. I notice a call 

 for obsei-vations on the Wood Pewee. 

 I iiave iield off, waiting for others more ca- 

 pable to tell what tiiey know about it. 1 

 now take the liberty of relating my obser- 

 vations thi'ongh your colunuis. Nearly 

 everyone will admit that locality makes a 

 wide difference, not only in the material of 

 the nest, but in the breeding hal)its also. 

 In '74, the Gth of June, I removed a nest 

 containing four eggs from the limb of an 

 old apple tree, about seven feet from tlie 

 ground. It would compete with many 

 nests of Trochilus coluhris. .July 4th I i-e- 

 moved a second nest from the same spot. 

 Whether the owners of the second nest were 

 identical with those of the first, I can not 

 say with certainty, but think they were. 

 July 12, 1878, I removed fi-om an oak 

 limb at a height of thirty feet, a nest with 



Practical Oology. 



gTUDYING bii-ds' eggs ejzgs with an ar- 

 dor only felt by a born oologist ; noting 

 every individual circumstance connected 

 with nesting and oviposition ; making draw- 

 ings of eggs and nests ; collecting specimens 

 — these are tlie attributes to the successful 

 accpiirement of oo'ogical knowledge : the 

 practical and salient points. If one has an 

 inclination to view the study as the best of 

 Natm-e's gilts, in other words, to take to it 

 as a "hobby." all reas()nal)le facilities 

 should be allowed him to pursue his obser- 

 vations, which, it m;iy be assured, will pos- 

 sess the value of originality. A studious 

 artist-naturalist will combine correct natu- 

 ral effect, in his sketches, with a fitting ar- 

 tistic covering; besides possessing ability 

 for making original and important notes", 

 he may be able to throw the scenery around 

 them, and thus combine the scientific with 

 the poetical. But he cannot deviate from 

 the descriptive to satisfy the poetical, else 

 his notes would savor of insufficiency and 

 shallowness ; and he must learn that where 

 necessary, strict attention to technicalities 

 cannot allow of poesy. His love of art and 

 the artistic must not permit him to make 

 drawings indiscriminately as to the value of 

 the representations : that is, he must ever 

 be eager to portray new and ch;iracteristic 

 points, however devoid of beauty, and must 

 beware of exaggeration. 



