22 



in the vicinity, but these were undoubtedly the parents and 

 young of two late broods reared in the bird house of Mr. 

 Jasper Dulany, in the eastern part of town, as they staid 

 there during the night. 



1899. — Bulk left on August 24th., and only few noticed dur- 

 ing the next three or four days. 



1900. — Bulk left August 22nd.; last seen August 30th. 



1901. — Bulk left August 20th., but small flocks seen daily up 

 to 29th. when all disappeared. 



1902. — August 22nd. bulk left this town and only a few noted 

 afterward. Sept. 6th. three male martins seen in a large 

 scattering flock of Chimney Swifts. 



A Chapter on a Cabinet Series of Their Eggs. 



I have robbed my pets but I do not wear their feathers in 

 my hat ! 



If there is an ornithologist who knows so much about birds 

 that he needs to know nothing about their eggs, he would bet- 

 ter pass this chapter by ; for in it he will find what he styles, 

 through plain ignorance, or a willful negligence of the subject, 

 "bird murdering" and "egg hogging." 



Fortunately for the birds, the Creator has endowed them with 

 maternal instincts, which prompts them to renewed parental 

 efforts when fortune loses to them their newly laid eggs, and, 

 indeed, in many cases, callow young. 



During the seven years in which I have been fostering and pro- 

 tecting these birds, I have taken, for a study of the shells and 

 their contents, eleven sets of eggs, one of which was deserted, 

 having been deposited in a room without the vestage of a nest. 

 In every case, except the latter, it was observed that in from two 

 to five days after the robbery was committed, the parents were 

 reconstructing their old or building new nests. I do not know 

 why the one nest was deserted, but in all probability, one or 

 both old birds met death in some way. 



