THE OOLOGIST. 



55 



rule, sometimes six when tlie sets are 

 complete. 



They build here in large oak trees 

 about 80 feet from the ground. 



I ha^e measured six sets and they 

 run as follows: 2.52 x 1.79, 2.50 x 1.80, 

 2.45 X 1.74. 2.55 x 1.82, 2.59 x 1.79, 2.56 

 X 1.81— aver. 2.53 x 1.79; 2.76 x 1.75, 

 2.79 X 1.78. 2.76 x 1.80. 2.84 x 1.78, 2.80 

 X 1.7S, 2.80 X 1.81— aver. 2.79 x 1.78; 

 2.;37 x 1.78, 2.54 x 1.75. 2.54 x 1.80, 2.54 

 X 1.7S. 2.54 x 1.78— aver. 2.51 x 1.78; 

 2.70 X 1.69, 2.78 x 1.65, 2.70 x 1.70, 2.65 

 X 1.64. 2.66 x 1.65— aver. 2.69 x 1.67; 

 2.63 X 1.80, 2.72 x 1.78, 2.72 x 1.80, 2.72 

 X 1.80, 2.55 X 1.84,— aver. 2.67 x 1.80; 

 2.37 X 1.70, 2.52 x 1.76. 2.50 x 1.77, 2.65 

 X 1.75, 2.52 X 1.75 — aver. 2.69 x 1.75. 

 Aver, for six sets, 2.61 x 1.76. 



From the above it would appear that 

 Mr. Davie's average of 2.50 x 1.50 was 

 ^way off. 



My longest egg is 2.84 and narrow- 

 est 1.64. 



Full sets can be found here about 

 April 20th, when they lay their first 

 brood; the second brood is laid in 

 May. 



Why the Northern birds lay larger 

 eggs than the Southern I do not know, 

 as I have none from the South. 



[I dont think they do. The con- 

 trary is probably correct. — Ed.] 



My friend, Mr. Crispin and I have 

 taken in the last few years in New 

 Jersey and Delaware, a great many 

 eggs of the Gt. Blue Heron. A great 

 many of these were broken for var- 

 ious reasons. We have one rookery^ 

 in Delaware that we intend to protect, 

 as their nesting sites are fast being 

 broken up by woodsmen. 



E. .1. DARLINGTON. 



Philadelphia county, Pennsylvania, 

 years ago. He gives the record as 

 unique; stating, by the way, that he 

 made it "before (he) began to keep a 

 note-book." Inferentially, then, it was 

 also before he began to verify his 

 findings. One cannot but regret the 

 chronicling of doubtful instances like 

 this; even in a journal which does not 

 aim at critical exactness. (Much the 

 same sort of inexact observation is 

 instanced in The Condor for January, 

 1908, wherein a well-known observer 

 cites the Arkansas Kingbird (Western 

 King Bird), as nesting, one pair near 

 the top of an adobe bluff, "in a little 

 cavity;" the other "on the end of the 

 ridge-pole of (a) cabin." Now, in the 

 two cases here given, the birds in 

 question were, beyond the vestige of 

 a doubt, just Say Phoebes. The West- 

 ern Kingbird has never been proven 

 to nest in this manner; which is, how- 

 ever, thoroughly normal with the Say 

 Phoebe. 



As to "Albino" Marsh Wren Eggs." 



Editor Oologist. 



Dear Sir: — In The Oologist for 

 March, 1907, Mr. Richard Miller has 

 recorded the suppositious finding of a 

 nest of the Carolina Chickadee in 



It is incomprehensible that any per- 

 son, whatsoever, of the least exper- 

 ience in collecting, should confuse, 

 under any conceivable circumstances, 

 the nests and the eggs of our two 

 American Marsh Wrens. In the first 

 plact, the nests of the short-bill are 

 always, (normally), on dryer ground; 

 are invariably made of dry materials; 

 with exteriors almost always of dry 

 grasses, only. As for the eggs: the 

 most perfectly-albinistic eggs imag- 

 inable of the Long-billed Marsh Wren 

 would most certainly be found to be 

 of a cream-color; while the eggs of 

 the Short-bill are invariably dead- 

 white. As for shapes there is noth- 

 ing •"diagnostic." .As most people 

 know, the eggs of the Long-bill tend 

 to rounded contours. Contrariwise^ 

 the e.ggs of its cousin average to be 



