GO 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Yol. 14-No. 4 



way's Manual of N. A. Birds, p. 586, have 

 never, I believe, been described, and I am 

 therefore glad to place their description on 

 record. 



The eggs, two in number, were taken June 

 26, 1887, in the Santa Cruz Valley, near Tuc- 

 son, Arizona, by Mr. Herbert Brown. The 

 nest was built in a peach tree, and was about 

 ten feet from the ground. It was made of a 

 few twigs and a little grass. 



The eggs exactly resemble those of the com- 

 mon Ground Dove (C. passerina). They are 

 pure white, elliptical oval in shape, and meas- 

 ure .89 X .67 ; .85 X .66. J. P. N. 



Spotted Eggs of Wilson's Thrush. 



I have recently received a remarkable set of 

 eggs of the Wilson's Thrush {Ilyloclchla fuscps- 

 cens). They were taken June 2, 1888, in Franklin 

 County, Maine. The parent bird was shot, 

 and fully identified. The eggs, which are four 

 in number, are of the usual color, but they are 

 all distinctly speckled with russet. One of the 

 eggs is marked much more heavily than the 

 others, but on all of them the specks are 

 easily seen. The largest of the markings 

 measure .03 X. 03. The eggs themselves meas- 

 ure .82 x. 65; .82x66; .83x.66; .82x.67. 



./. P. N. 



The Southern Yellow-winged, or 

 Grasshopper Sparrow ( Ammodra- 

 mus australis ). 



Editor O. it ().: 



I wish through your columns to call the 

 attention of collectors in the Southern States to 

 this species described by me a year or two ago. 



The point is that in all probability a Yellow- 

 winged Sparrow occurs in the Southern States, 

 having the breast at all seasons streaked with 

 i-eddish or dusky. We all know, who know 

 anything about the Northern Yellow-wing, 

 that the young, and possibly the adult in 

 winter, are so streaked. But the Northern 

 species loses these streakings in summer, while, 

 as I contend, and hope to prove most con- 

 ckisively in my forthcoming revised edition of 

 the Birds of Eastern North America, that in 

 the Southern Yellow- wing they are constantly 

 present. My new species is also smaller and 

 darker. Both species occur in Florida in winter 

 and can even when both are streaked be readily 

 separated. 



The Southern Yellow-wing also occurs in 

 Texas, I having recently found a skin among 



a half dozen Northern birds, also from that 

 section, now in the collection of Mr. Frank B. 

 Webster. 



I shall be pleased to see any notes upon this 

 subject published in the O. & O. from ob- 

 servers along our Southern border. 



I call attention to this matter; as the subject 

 appears to be somewhat misunderstood. I 

 judge this to be a fact from some notes made 

 upon the Southern Yellow-wing by Mr. Chap- 

 man in, I think, the July Auk of last year. Mr. 

 Chapman says that birds that he has collected 

 in Florida are no more heavily streaked than one 

 taken in New .Jersey, bvit neglects to give the 

 most important fact which can have any bear- 

 ing on the subject, viz., the date of capture of 

 any of the specimens in question. As he 

 says, however, that his Southern skins are no 

 darker than the Northern bird, which was pre- 

 sumably, a fall specimen, it is probable that he 

 has taken the Northern bird with the transient 

 streaked breast, in Florida. C. ./. Mai/nard. 



Editorial. 



The O. & O. is mailed each issue to every paid siil)- 

 seriher. If you fail to receive it. notify us. 



Sextimknt for the Collecting Season. — 



If a bird or egg is wanted for the legitimate 



purpose of study take it. To destroy them 



for any other purpose is an act against the 



interests of ornithologists and taxidermists. 



The trial of John C. Cahoon for the alleged 

 offence of killing terns out of season at ( Chat- 

 ham last August, occurred at Barnstable, 

 April flth and Kith. 



Four witnesses for the Commonwealth were 

 sworn, and testified that being fishermen en- 

 gaged in tlieir avocation, that of searching for 

 blue fish, they saw Mr. Cahoon shooting on Mon- 

 omoy beach. Their attention was first attracted 

 to him by hearing the report of his gun when 

 they were in a boat a half mile away. At this 

 distance three of them said that they heard 

 the report of the gun, saw the terns fall, then 

 saw the smoke of his gun. The fourth, and 

 last witness, evidently better posted in acous- 

 tics, saw the smoke of the gun, saw the tern 

 fall, and then heard the report. All testified 

 to the fact that a single tern could not be dis- 

 tinguished at a half mile away, but that a 

 fiock in mass could be seen, yet all were con- 

 fident that they saw a single bird fall at that 

 distance. 



Three said that the defendant continued to 



