so 



THE OOLOGIST 



Tfte ©oroaist 



FOUKTH PUBLICATION YEAR. 



MAY, 1879. 



I^'A NUMBER of subscriptions expire 

 with this issue of The 0(3logist. Those 

 Avhose subscriptions terminated immediate- 

 ly prior to this number have been informed 

 by postal card. Will they renew at once 

 and save the delay in adjusting our subscrip- 

 tion book? 



1^ Arrangements have been made 

 whereby subscribers to the American Nat- 

 uralist may receive also this journal at 

 S4.00 per annum. This is an unusual of- 

 fer to naturalists, who should at once avail 

 themselves of it. 



Our Plate. — As an experiment, per- 

 haps the plate which accompanies this num- 

 ber may be considered tolerably accurate. 

 So far as we are aware, this is the first in- 

 stance of bird egg illustration in colors pro- 

 duced by wood engravings in this country ; 

 and the defects which must of necessity 

 occur from an experiment in this field, con- 

 sidering the admitted ditHculty in properly 

 portraying the eggs of birds, are happily 

 fewer than were expected. The figures are 

 sufficiently correct to exhibit the typical pe- 

 culiarities of each egg, while the coloring 

 is sufficiently exact to represent the average 

 run of specimens, excepting it be that the 

 blotching on eggs of Accipiter fuscus is more 

 of a yellowish-red, or dirty red color. 



A series of trials in this process of pro- 

 ducing figures of birds' eggs might, doubt- 

 less, be attended with excellent results ; and 

 they would vie with the best efit)rts of the 

 lithographer, for all the nicety of outline 

 and configuration of markings, may with 

 study, be obtained. As regards the present 

 plate, it is hoped that the defects will be 

 considered merely as those resulting from 

 experiment. 



Attention is called to our prospectus in 

 another portion of this number. Oologists 

 are referred to this announcement as a state- 

 ment of what our journal proposes to ac- 

 complish, provided it receives their encour- 

 agement. If our readers will show this 

 number to their friends who collect birds' 

 eggs, they may succeed in arousing a deep- 

 er interest in this study, and thus imbue in 

 them a desire to promote the science thro' 

 our journal. Subscribe for it. 



Copies of the plate may be obtained for 

 ten cents each or eighty cents per dozen, 

 postage paid. 



SUBJECTS OOLOGIOALLY OONSIDEEED. 



IV. ON THE RELATION OF NID- 

 IFIGATION TO CERTAIN OTH- 

 ER HABITS OF BIRDS. 



ANE of the most notable facts presented 

 ^ to the ornithologist for study and phi- 

 losoj)hy, and which often serves as a key to 

 the character of a bird, is the great conform- 

 ity of its general habits with some one 

 prominent peculiarity. As in human be- 

 ings, a trait which is marked in one bird, 

 may be modified or wanting in another of 

 the same species, and whatever this trait 

 is, it points as a sort of index to the whole 

 demeanor of the individual. Prominent 

 and noted as are the peculiarities which dis- 

 tinguish one family, genus, or species from 

 another ; and closely as all the individuals 

 of a species are connected by a common 



