August, 1893."! 



AND OOLOGIST. 



"5 



The collection, many specimens of which 

 were found by himself, embraced nearly 

 every species of bird life in North America, 

 and even now, in its apparently perfected 

 state, was considered by Mr. Park still un- 

 finished, so devoted was he to his wish for 

 a collection that would be second to none. 

 It was not an uncommon thing for him to 

 be seen tramping through the woods and 

 marshes in this locality in search of new 

 specimens. He possessed an almost infinite 

 fund of information concerning the habits of 

 the denizens of the air. His collection is 

 estimated to be worth from S8,ooo to Sio,- 

 000. Mr. Park has furnished the informa- 

 tion for several interesting articles on birds 

 which have appeared in the "Times." 



The funeral services will occur from j\Ir. 

 Park's late residence to-morrow afternoon 

 and will be private. The burial will be at 

 Oakwood cemetery. — Troy, N.T., Tiiiics. 



A Peculiarity in the Nesting Habits 

 of the Virginia Rail. 



Although I have talked with a large num- 

 ber of persons and read quite a few books on 

 this bird [Rall/is virffii/iamis), I have been 

 unable to hear of, or find, a feature in the 

 nesting-habits similar to the following. 



The first instance of the kind that has 

 come under my notice, occurred on May 30, 

 1 89 1. My brother and I were hunting in a 

 small marsh in the vicinity of Dedham, Mass., 

 for Rail's nests in jiartirular. We had not 

 been long at work when my brother called 

 out to me that he had found a Virginia's nest 

 with nine eggs. Being at some distance, it 

 took me perhaps three minutes to reach him. 

 While I was on the way, he had been hunt- 

 ing within a few yards of the nest and, when 

 I came up, we immediately went to it. To 

 our surprise and, at the moment, disgust we 

 saw the old Rail standing among the eggs 

 and, in the most cool and deliberate manner 

 spearing them with her long bill. We made 

 no delay in driving her off but not before she 



had completely smashed three of the eggs, 

 and driven her bill clear through another 

 without otherwise injuring it. We have the 

 remaining six still, and in my eyes, on ac- 

 count of the eggs drilled by the bird herself, 

 they are more valuable than a full set of nine 

 which lies beside them. By the way, nine 

 eggs is the regulation set laid by the Virginia 

 Rail in these parts, although occasionally 

 seven makes a full set. 



The peculiarity of the above mentioned 

 marsh is the strictness of the society, one 

 might call it, kept by the birds there. While 

 Virginia Rails and Short-billed Marsh Wrens 

 ^Cistotlioroiis stc/lar/'s) abound there, I 

 have never seen a Sora Rail {/'orzaiia Car- 

 olina) nor a Long-billed Marsh Wren ( Cis- 

 tothorous paliistris) nor have I heard of 

 one ever being seen there. This is all the 

 more strange, as a marsh not a mile and a 

 half distant is reasonably well stocked with 

 all four birds. This has nothing to do with 

 the subject, it is true, but it has always seemed 

 so singular to me that I do not omit it. 



Since the nest first mentioned, I have found 

 a large number ; my brother has also done so. 

 In each case we were careful to handle the 

 eggs and place them in different positions to 

 see if the art of fencing would be repeated ; 

 but, until this year, the birds simply re- 

 arranged the eggs and continued to set. The 

 second and last case of the kind happened 

 while hunting in a diffeient marsh in the 

 early part of last June. I had been hunting 

 for Marsh Wrens' nests but had found nothing 

 of importance but a few Short- bill "decoys," 

 which 1 marked, until my dog showed me a 

 Virginia's nest containing the remains of nine 

 eggs, whicli had all been broken in the same 

 manner as those in the first nest. In some 

 of these eggs the damage done amounted to 

 very little more than a thrust clean through, 

 but the majority were badly broken. I am 

 sorry to say that no reason can be given for 

 this case, as the eggs had been washed clean 

 by recent rains, leaving the residue in the 

 bottom of the nest, which pro\ed that the 



