THE OOLOGIST 



69 



speckles of reddish, an occurrence never be- 

 fore happening with tliis pair in six years, 

 for twenty-seven eggs, tlie aggregate of that 

 period, were all wliitc Some species were 

 remarkably late in tiieir honseiiold duties. 

 It required one pair of Chipping Sparrows 

 a whole month to get ready for niditicatiou : 

 they built a nest in a spruce tree, but the 

 position was so exposed that the cats troub- 

 led the unlucky pair, and they left it just 

 before the lining was put in. Another nest 

 was commenced in an apple tree a few rods 

 away, but the situation was still more un- 

 favorable, and this, too, was left to its fate. 

 The third and last nest — a poor, hastily 

 built tiffair — was not begun till a number of 

 days afterward, but they laid their eggs in 

 it, and in a couple of weeks four little Spar- 

 rowlets appeared, which, alas, were sacri- 

 ficed to fill the greedy maw of some prowl- 

 ing cat. 



It will thus be seen that to be a profita- 

 ble season to the collector, he need not nec- 

 essarily find new specimens, or even rare 

 ones. If the data of one's work among the 

 birds for a season are faithfully kept, and 

 even the most familiar species watched with 

 assiduity, the collector may be surprised at 

 the results. His note book will not pre- 

 sent the appearance it often does : as if the 

 items had been selected — picked out, as it 

 were, from the many observations, great 

 and small, important and trifling, which he 

 had made. It is frequently the case with 

 the young collector, after he has once been 

 brought into contact with rarer species, to 

 wholly ignore those which he sees about 

 him every day ; and thus many interesting 

 bird-traits pass unobserved. Date and lo- 

 cality of a nest, with the number and con- 

 dition of the eggs it contains, are usually 

 tlie most important particulars ; but when 

 other facts are observed in connection with 

 these, es{)ecially in case of abnormity, they 

 should be recorded for a precedent. Un- 

 usual appearances in a nest or eggs, or 

 strange demeanor on the part of the parents 

 should be closely observed, since this por- 

 tion of the study is the most interesting and 

 often most valuable. A cabinet of birds' 



eggs — the mere existence of the specimens — 

 is indeed but a portion of a good collection : 

 the other portion consists of their history — 

 a complete, substantial record of their latent 

 value, their intrinsic worth, their scientific 

 merit, — that which exists after the speci- 

 men itself is lost or destroyed, and serves to 

 establish the facts concerning it with due 

 prominence for years afterward. 



Oological memoranda are not less import- 

 ant than ornithological data : the establish- 

 ing of a given locality as the breeding ground 

 of a certain species, by the finding of its 

 nest, forms an important era in the history 

 of its nesting, just as the discovery of a spe- 

 cies does its range of habitat ; — the discov- 

 ery of some new feature concerning the nest 

 or eggs of a species is equally as valuable 

 as the observation of some new peculiarity 

 in its habits. Thei'efore, every new item, 

 however small, connected with the eggs or 

 nestiujr habits of birds, should be eagerly 

 recorded by the collector. 



It is interesting to study the changes in 

 plumage wliicli some birds undergo when 

 moulting. The transition, especially in tin- 

 case of cage birds, is frequently accompa- 

 nied with odd appearances in coloring, an<l 

 this, too, often changes several times before 

 the normal plumage is obtained. Two Bob- 

 olinks, kept for a year in a cage, exhibited 

 during the period of shedding their feathers, 

 peculiarities of an amusing nature. One 

 seemed more forward than the other in sev- 

 eral respects, and when the season came for 

 the new, shining black plumage, he was the 

 first to moult. But the operation was ex- 

 ceedingly slow, and it required a long time 

 to bring out even a few new feathers. Af- 

 ter the breast had begun to exliil)it a few 

 dark spots, the belly began to show signs 

 of whiteness and in a week or two was quite 

 pale. Sinuiltaneously, on the back and 

 sides and top of the head appeared black 

 feathers. The plumage thus remained, 

 with here a little bla(;k, there brown, and 

 once in a while a white feather, for several 

 weeks, when the bird died. 



