176 



THE OOLOOIST 



at Holmesburg; nest four feet up iu 

 an alder crotch in bushy field and sub- 

 sequently deserted by the touchy bird 

 whom I watched place a twig in it. 



10. Three rotten eggs, August 1, 

 1905, at Frankford, in a Yellow Bill's 

 nest, containing three addled eggs of 

 Americanus. Nest placed five feet up 

 in a clump of blackberry bushes along 

 wood at bottom of a steep, bushy rail 

 road embankment and close to the 

 nest I found on June 14, 1905. It was 

 a shallow platform of small sticks and 

 twigs lined with pignut catkin. As 

 the Black-billed Cuckoo's eggs reposed 

 upon the Yellow-bill's I concluded that 

 the nest must have been built by tht 

 latter and that erythroplithalmus, 

 either too lazy to build a nest or 

 through destruction of hers laid her 

 eggs in Americanus' nest. None of 

 the eggs were preservable on account 

 of decomposition, in fact two of them 

 exploded in my hand while I was ex- 

 amining them, showing me the rotten 

 contents, so I hastily dropped them. 

 The eggs were typical of each species, 

 those of the Americanus being as 

 usual noticeably larger and darker in 

 coloration. 



Query: Was the nest deserted 

 when the Black-bill laid her eggs in 

 it and if so what caused the bird to 

 abandon it after laying her eggs? 



11. Two piped eggs containing 

 dead embryos, September 1, 1905, 

 Frankford, (in Juniata Park). Nest 

 placed fifty-seven inches up in ham- 

 mock of Virginia Creeper and wild 

 cucumber vines, between the branches 

 of Spicewood sprout in woods; well 

 hidden. A platform of sticks and 

 twigs loosely put together, and lined 

 with dry leaves and ironwood; hardly 

 an inch deep but 9 inches across the 

 top. The embryos had not been dead 

 long as decomposition had not set in. 

 Eggs typical. Owners were probably 

 killed. 



12. One large rotten egg, Septem- 

 ber 13, 1905, Frankford. Supposedly 



of this species on account of its color. 

 Nest was thirty feet up in a black 

 gum tree on wooded bank near creek, 

 Dlaced about 8 feet out on a hori- 

 .outal limb and the highest Cuckoo's 

 lest I have ever seen. Loosely put 

 ogether and made of sticks and twigs, 

 lined with dry leaves and grass; it 

 measured 8 inches across the top, 

 and was 1^/^ inches thick. Hardly 

 depressed. Egg globular and light 

 blue; size 1.20 x 1.20 inches, and un- 

 usually large Black-bill's egg and an 

 unusually spherical egg. 



13. Four eggs, incubation begun, 

 June 19, 1906. Betty's Is., opposite 

 Philadelphia, Camden County, N. J. 

 Nest was placed 5i^ feet up in a ham- 

 mock of herbaceous vines in bushes in 

 thicket near middle of Island and well 

 hidden. Well made of small sticks 

 and twigs, and lined with dry leaves 

 and grasses. About 5 inches wide 

 and y2 inch deep. Light blue in color 

 and eliptical in shape of normal size; 

 eggs nest-stained like many Cuckoo's 

 eggs. 



14. Three young several days old, 

 June 19, 1908, Sandiford. Nest 4V2 

 feet up in pear tree in edge of thicket, 

 along roadside, placed 4 feet out on a 

 horizontal limb. Typical in composi- 

 tion. 



15. One fresh egg, June 29, 1908, 

 Frankford. In a Yellow-bill's nest con- 

 taining one egg of the owner of the 

 nest that was slightly incubated, al- 

 though a Black-bill was flushed from 

 the nest. It was 8 feet up in a small 

 willow tree at bottom of steep rail- 

 road embankment and along a marsh, 

 placed up on the slanting stem 2 

 inches thick, in a cluster of sprout. 

 Loosely made of sticks and twigs, 

 many over a foot long and Vs of an 

 inch thick; thickly lined with willow 

 catkins with adhering scales. Out- 

 side width 4% inches (exclusive of 

 extremes), inside ZVz inches; outside 

 depth 2 inches; inside % inches. 



Richard F. Miller. 



