ORNITnOLOGICAL CLUB. 7 



circle the greater ends are drawn numerous wavy lines of black, 

 precisely like the characteristic pen-markings of some of the Oriole's 

 eggs. With an extensive series of specimens before me, I am led 

 to the inevitable conviction that eggs of D, maculosa are in many 

 cases indistinguishable from those of D. virens, D. jjennsylvaiiicay 

 and D. discolor; and an examination of an equal number of au- 

 thentic eggs of the other Dendroec(v would, I am satisfied, result in 

 adding many more to this list. In the eggs of each of the above- 

 named species there is an almost endless variation, and many sets 

 are consequently quite unique, but the type — if, indeed, any can 

 bo established — finds equally near approaches among them all. 

 Nests may, however, in most cases be relied upon, especially when 

 procured from proximate localities. 



In the case of the young, both before and after they leave the 

 nest, this bird displays no exceptional traits. Both old and young, 

 when the latter have become able to take care of themselves, 

 join the immense congregations of mingled Warblers, Wrens, Tit- 

 mice, Sparrows, and Woodpeckers, which collect in the northern 

 forests in early August, to be dispersed — most of them south- 

 ward — by the first frosts of September. 



In Eastern Massachusetts this species occurs as a fall migrant 

 from September 21 to October 30, but -it is never seen at this 

 season in anything like the numbers which pass through the same 

 section in spring, and the bulk of the migration must follow a more 

 westerly' route. Its haunts while with us in the autumn are some- 

 what different from those which it affects during its northward 

 journey. We now find it most commonly on hillsides, among 

 scrub-oaks and scattered birches, and in company with such birds 

 as the Yellow-Rump {Dendrceca coronata) and the Black-Poll (Z>. 

 sfriata). A dull, listless troop they are, comparatively sombre of 

 plumage, totally devoid of song, and apparently intent only upon 

 the gratification of their appetites. It seems, at first thought, 

 strange that the birds, at a season when all the i-est of Nature puts 

 on its most gorgeous coloring, shoidd array themselves in their 

 dullest ; but it must be borne in mind that many of them played 

 their part before these brilliant leaves had burst their buds, and 

 now, like ushers and orchestra, whose duty has been performed, 

 they stand aside among the audience, and watch the shifting 

 glories of the final transformation-scene. So let us leave them 

 until, attired in fullest costume, they come again to herald, with 

 overtures of joyous song, the rising of the curtain on a new year. 



