Review of the Boston Journal of JVatural History. 383 



the egg in fresh materials, so as to prevent it from ever hatchinjr. It 

 does not appear to be known that the bird will sometimes, in order to 

 eet rid of the intruder, bury, with the cow-troopial's, her own egns. 

 That such is sometimes the case, the following will show. In the sum- 

 mer of 1833, I found, in the botanical garden in Cambridge, a nest of 

 the summer yellow-bird, which a brood had evidently but just left. Its 

 peculiarly elongated shape attracted my notice. Upon examining it I 

 found that the bird had apparently first constructed a nest of the usual 

 shape, and had deposited in it three of her own eggs. At this period a 

 cow black-bird had added another. Not wishing, as it would seem, to 

 waste her time by rearing a stranger, to the probable destruction of her 

 own offspring, and yet unwilling to be at the trouble of constructing a 

 nest entirely anew, she merely built an additional story to it — thus ef- 

 fectually destroying the egg of the intruder, but with it, her own. In 

 this upper story she had evidently succeeded in raising her second 

 brood in safety. In the centre of this nest I found these four eggs thus 

 singularly incarcerated." 



Still more on birds, and we are informed, in Art. 20, (nor need 

 we be surprised, for we consider the natm-al history of the State 

 scarcely investigated,) that forty-five birds not mentioned in the 

 above catalogue have been enumerated as indigenous, since it 

 was published. We beg leave to correct a slight error, in refer- 

 ence to the Thalassidroma Leachii; the specimen in question 

 being procured at Ipswich, by Mr. William Oakes, and not by 

 the gentleman mentioned. 



A paper on comparative anatomy, as exhibited in a fine speci- 

 men of the Galapagos turtle, includes much that is valuable to this 

 branch of natural science. Nor has conchology been overlook- 

 ed. Two new species of that beautiful genus Marginella are de- 

 scribed, besides the commencement of a monograph on the He- 

 lices of the United States. This singular family of animals, 

 comprising the destructive slug of our gardens, and the no less 

 injurious snail of Europe, has lately received much attention 

 among our native conchologists. Their manners and intrinsic 

 beauty, as well as their economy, render them objects of curios- 

 ity and study. We have oftentimes, when collecting them in the 

 Western States, been gratified with the great variety of species 

 observable in the rich beech woods, on some damp morning in 

 summer, — watching their motions as they pursued their slimy 

 track over some prostrate and mossy trunk, or when assembled in 

 groups under the mouldering bark, the number of scavengers and 

 operatives in the destructive process, which follows the destiny 

 of one and precedes the production of another race of plants. 

 Some of great beauty would be prized not only for this charac- 

 ter, but for their great rarity. Others are of a very limited lo- 

 cation. While some are extremely delicate, others are remark- 

 ably stout and strong, and while some are microscopically mi- 

 nute, others are of considerable size. Several are common to 

 the Eastern and Western States, but many are desirous of particu- 

 lar tracts. Few, if any, of our native species are destructive to 



