40 The Wilson Bulletin.— No. 43 



the South, Nest Building, Deposition and Number of Eggs, Incu- 

 bation, The Growing Young and the Parent's Care, Something 

 about their Food, Their Enemies, Causes of Death, etc. Off to the 

 South, A Chapter on a Cabinet Series of Their Eggs, On the 

 Construction of Houses. 



The period of incubation is found to be from twelve to fifteen 

 days, the female apparently attending to this duty exclusively, and 

 twenty-four to twenty-eight days elapses before the young take 

 flight. Seven years records show about eleven hundred and fifty 

 eggs deposited and about eight hundred and fifty young reaching ma- 

 turity, or rather, taking fiight from home nest — almost 74 per cent! 

 A remarkable showing for so large a colony of birds. It is interest- 

 ing to note that in nearly every instance a wall of mud was built 

 around the front of the entrance, on the inside. One would wish, 

 perhaps, for more detailed plans and specifications for building 

 their homes, but after all the main points appear to be compart- 

 ments about 5 inches square and 6 inches high, with a single entrance 

 two and a half inches square or two and three-quarters inches in 

 diameter if round, and the whole elevated twelve or more feet 

 above the ground on a pole or gas-pipe. Constant attention during 

 the nesting period, with frequent use of the gun on the cats and 

 sparrows, and an occasional appeal to the law when the disturbers 

 belonged to that class termed "shooters" well named and far too 

 common as well; was no small part of the price paid for this splen- 

 did mass of strenuous bird life. In this paper of twenty-four pages, 

 Mr. Jacobs has, in a dignified manner, given the lie to the mere 

 sentimentalist who would brand every egg collected as a sordid dis- 

 troyer of life without a redeeming feature. It should b*^ in the 

 hands of every bird lover. F. L. B. 



The Birds of North and Middle America. — By Robert Ridgway. 

 Part II. Bull. No. 50, U. S. Nat. Mus., Washington, 1902. 



This is the second of the eight volumes which we are promised, 

 and fully maintains the high standard of the first volume. In the 

 834 pages of text the following families and number of species un- 

 der each are fully treated: Tanagridse, 112; Icteridse, 111; Coere- 

 bidse, 29; Mniotiltidse, 181. We await with great interest and some 

 impatience the appearance of the other six parts, which are prom- 

 ised at the rate of two each year. L. J. 



The Metallic Feathers from the Neck of the Domestic Pigeon. 

 By R. M. Strong, Ph.D. 



Reprint from the Biological Bulletin, Vol. Ill, Nos. 1 and 2, 1902. 



A Case of Abnormal Plumage. By R. M. Strong, Ph.D. 



Reprint from Biological Bulletin, Vol. Ill, No. 6, November, 1902. 



The Development of Color in the Definitive Feather. By R. M. 

 Strong, Ph.D. 



