392 General Notes. [f^^. 



with ice, these four birds seemed in good condition and they v^ere busily 

 engaged in finding an apparent abundance of food. 



The latest record that I can find for this species in Massachusetts, is 

 December 24 (Howe & Allen, Birds qf Mass., p. 42.) — Winthrop S. 

 Brooks, Milton, Mass. 



An Albino Egg of Wilson's Plover. — On May 20th, I found a nest of 

 Wilson's Plover {Ochthodromus ivilsonius) containing three eggs, one a 

 perfect albino. As this egg in size, shape, and texture of shell, corresponds 

 with the other two there seems to be no doubt but that the same bird laid 

 them all. The nesting site was on a shell reef seldom visited by anyone. — 

 Gilbert R. Rossignol, Jr., Savannah, Georgia. 



Pigeons do not Carry their Eggs. — Bendire in his 'Life Histories of 

 North American Birds ' quotes a statement from Mr. Otho C. Poling to the 

 effect that the Band-tailed Pigeon may carry an egg " embedded in the 

 feathers of the belly, and further, held by the legs while flying; but in such 

 cases they seem simply to alight on a limb of a spruce and incubate there 

 without any nest." The only tangible evidence Mr. Poling gives for this 

 extraordinary conclusion, is to the effect that he has more than once, on 

 shooting a female, found an egg embedded in the feathers of the belly. 

 Bendire endorses neither the observations nor the conclusion, but says 

 (p. 126): 



" I have quoted, without further comment, the remarkable statement 

 of Mr. Poling, in regard to the alleged removal of eggs by this pigeon." 



The matter might have been allowed to rest, were it not that Knowlton, 

 in his Birds of the World (p. 420) has quoted Mr. Poling's conclusion with 

 approval, thus: 



" It seems to be established beyond question that when the sitting bird 

 is driven from the nest the egg is not infrequently carried along, being held 

 close to the abdomen by the feet, and immediately on alighting on a limb 

 incubation is resumed without any nest. On this point Mr. O. C. Poling, 

 writing to Major Bendire, says: " etc. 



Let us see whether the alleged habit is " established beyond question." 

 The existence of such a habit is rendered extremely improbable, in the 

 first place, by a consideration of the general behavior of pigeons. Pigeons 

 never carry anything with their feet. I have seen pigeons tear up their 

 nest with their bills and thus roll out two eggs that had failed to hatch; 

 but this is very different from carrying the eggs. Again, a pigeon recognizes 

 her egg only by the fact that it is in her nest. Put a strange egg in her nest 

 and she will accept it as her own. Remove her own egg from the nest and 

 place it " on a limb " and she has no means of Icnowing that it is her egg. 

 Even in those cases, to be mentioned presently, in which I have seen a fe- 

 male carry an egg from the nest inadvertently, I believe she did not recog- 

 nize it as an egg; at least, she did not sit on it outside the nest. Even if 

 the female carried an egg from the nest and sat on it herself, it is hard to 



