52 



THE OOLOGIST. 



night the}- settled down in :i swanijjy 

 pastni-e, as if tired of Higiit. Many 

 boys had been wntcliing them before 

 they came down and aeeordingly made 

 a detonr around them witli shotgnn 

 and I'ifle. In spite of their caution, 

 only three or four fat fellows were bag- 

 ged, the re si: lising in a huge dark inass 

 of necks and wings out of range. The 

 excitement, however, kept many lia'ng- 

 ing away with ritles, some ))arti(s tak- 

 ing them for geese and thinking to have 

 a treat. I secured one for mounting, 

 but he was very badly torn 

 with someone's charge of buckshot. 

 They were pi'obably following the 

 warm rains, northward finding the 

 ctimate on this side of the range more 

 agreeable. To-day, Feb. 4th, at dark, 

 saw a small band of Cranes Hying low, 

 ansAvering their leader's deep cry with 

 weary voices, as it was stormy weather. 

 They, like the Loon, haunt the marshy 

 lakes in this locality. This summer I 

 found two Ru])y-throated Humming- 

 birds dead in the window of an old 

 house, having killed themselves against 

 the window. 'J'hey were male and fe- 

 male. I put them in my cabinet as 

 they were perfectly presei'ved. 



Uriah L. Hertz, 



Kent, Wash. 



The Abnormal Coloration of the Eggs of a Pair 

 of Passer Domesticus Kept in Confinement. 



Upon reading Mr. George N. Law- 

 rence's article on the change in the 

 i'oloration of certain parrots, which he 

 considers is caused by the birds ])eing 

 kept in confinement (see Auk vol.. (5, No. 

 1) brings to my mind the change in col- 

 oration of the eggs of a pair of English 

 Sparrows kept in confinement. 



One winter a pair of Sparrows entered 

 the kitchen of a friend of ours through 

 an open door, whereupon the door was 

 shut and the birds were caught and put 

 into a cage, where they thrived very 

 Avell. The female laid three oi- foui- 

 clutches of eggs every season, whii-h 



were not as other eggs of this species, 

 dull whitish, thickly speckled and 

 dashed with dark Ijrown and purplish 

 gray, but of a pure, clear white color, 

 e\ eiily and thinly spotted with a light 

 purplish graj'. , 



I thiidv that the change in the color- 

 ation of the eggs in this case is due to 

 the same cause that caused the plumage 

 of the parrots to change anil that is, 

 being kept in continement. 



John Luhrman, 

 Jersey City, N. J. 



The Evening Grosbeak. 



This beautiful bird is not a very 

 plentiful one here, but they may be 

 seen in flocks in winter and early 

 spring and sometimes fall, but gener- 

 ally about the time cherry trees begin 

 to blossom, as they are fond of the bk s- 

 sbms. They also eat maple buds a 

 great deal. 



On Jan. 26th, I I'un across a flock of 

 about twenty Grosbeaks, mostly males 

 and I picked out (me and tapped him 

 over with a load of shot from my cata- 

 pult aiul afterwards made a skin of him 

 which now adorns my cabinet. I find 

 the pocket catajjult comes in handy 

 when you suddenly run across a bird 

 yon want. 



The specimen before me measures 

 7 3-10 inches long and the wing is 4 3-10 

 inches. The forward half of the body 

 is yellowish-olive shading into yellow 

 on the rump and under tail coverts; the 

 ci'own, wings, upper tail coverts, and 

 tail, black; frontal band, bright yellow. 

 The beak is very thick and powerful. 

 I found this out while attemptmg to 

 catch a wounded bii'd when he caught 

 me instead. 



The nest is vei-y i-are as only a few 

 are on record, but no doubt they nest 

 in some of the pine forests in or near 

 the mountains. 



Clyde L. Keller, 

 Marion Co., Oregon. 



