54 



THE OOLOGIST 



As a general thing, they are gregarious 

 in all their habits. Great numbers breed 

 all along the river, usually in scattered col- 

 onies, similar to Redwings, but their nests 

 are higher, and not often near the water. 

 The ebony is a favorite tree for them to 

 breed in ; and wherever these trees exist 

 in towns or about ranches they are always 

 occupied with nests of these birds, some- 

 times in great numbers. My first eggs 

 were taken from an ebony-tree near our 

 room, in which were six or eight nests. 

 They were found in great numbers in the 

 young willows and rank undergrowth of the 

 resacas ; and in the great "• heronry" in the 

 salt-marshes, halfway between Brownsville 

 and the coast, we obtained many eggs. We 

 found their nests about two feet above the 

 water in the rushes, and from four to thir- 

 ty feet above the ground when in trees. 

 They are shaped like those of our familiar 

 Purple Grackle, Q. purpureus, and not 

 much larger. They are composed of grass- 

 es principally ; but, when convenient, pa- 

 pers, rags, feathers, anything, are woven 

 in, and not infrequently mud is thrown in, 

 as if to weigh it down. Just how far north 

 of the Rio Grande this species reaches, I 

 cannot tell. On the northern end of Padre 

 Island, at Corpus Christi Pass, I saw them 

 in abundance, and about Corpus Christi al- 

 so. No Quiscalus major, Jackdaw, was 

 secured. The first eggs were taken April 

 25th. In shape they are very oblong, 

 rounded at one end and pointed at the oth- 

 er, with the greatest diameter much netirer 

 one end. The ground color is usually of a 

 greenish-white, clouded with a purplish- 

 brown irom the small end as far as the 

 centre, and sometimes over the whole eg'^. 

 The markings are of a very dark brown, 

 chiefly at the small end, and consist of pen- 

 cillings, drops, and splashes irregularly and 

 grotesquely put on. Of a very large series 

 of eggs, the largest was 1.40 by 0.95, and 

 the smallest 1.12 by 0.87, with an average of 

 1.27 by 0.87. The narrowest egg, 0.83, 

 was next to the longest, being 1.39, thus 

 showing great variation in shape. — Geo. B. 

 Sennett. — Birds of the Rio Grande. 



— Bubo virginianus is not so exclusively 

 a bird of swampy, low regions, as is gen- 

 erally believed. Great numbers of them 

 dwell in the high wooded portions of the Ad- 

 irondacks, in districts where one meets with 

 only beech, maple and spruce trees ; and 

 here, too, they breed. Their presence in 

 large numbers can be attested by those who 

 visit these wild regions diu'ing the summer, 

 for it seems almost as if they lived solely 

 for the purpose of hoo-hoo-'u\g in concert or 

 at brief intervals, during the whole night. 



The Brush Turkey (Tallegalla 

 Lathami). 



BY FRED. J. DAVIS. 



"VTO country or continent on the globe fur- 

 nishes so many curious specimens of 

 the animal kingdom as the Island of Aus- 

 tralia. And among its many curious or- 

 nithological inhabitants, none are more re- 

 markable, especially as regards the method 

 of nesting and incubation than the above 

 bird. This bird was first described by Lath- 

 am, who called it the New Holland Vul- 

 ture, but he afterward changed its classifi- 

 cation from the Vultures to the Turkeys, to 

 which it properly belongs. That distin- 

 guished ornithologist, Mr. Gould, after- 

 ward gave a very full and accurate account 

 of its distribution and habits. 



The Brush Turkey is about the size of a 

 two-thirds grown domestic Turkey. In the 

 adult, the whole of the upper surface is of 

 a blackish-brown ; the feathers of the chest 

 are edged with silver-gray ; the skin of the 

 head and neck is deep red, and thinly sprink- 

 led with short hair-like feathers ; the sides 

 of the neck at its lower part are ornament- 

 ed with a bright yellow wattle, capable of 

 being expanded or contracted at will. The 

 female is somewhat smaller than the male, 

 and her w^attles not so much develo])ed ; the 

 color is the same. The flesh of this bird is 

 very tender and delicate, and is held in 

 hijrh esteem. 



