56 



Genera] Notes. 



tioned nest was found, placed on a drooping branch of an apple tree fif- 

 teen feet above the ground. The species was seen and heard singing 

 about six miles west of Camden, New Jersey, in June, and again in 

 July at the same place; is it not just therefore to suppose this pair had 

 a nest near the spot? 



Worm-eating Warblers were noticed in full song in the vicinity of Mar- 

 pie, Delaware County. Pa., as early as the last week in April, and whilst 

 on a collecting trip in May I procured three males and a female in south- 

 ern Chester County, and on dissecting the latter I was surprised to find in 

 her oviduct a partly shelled egg. On the i6th of June, 1881, a ramble in 

 the woods resulted in finding a brood of young of this species scarcely 

 able to fly ; one of them is now in my collection and another just missed 

 the same claim to immortality. The old birds were exceedingly solici- 

 tous but so wary that three shots failed to procure either of them. 



Near Camden, New Jersey, I procured a female Worm-eating Warbler in 

 the latter part of July, 1880; its actions and the time of year caused 

 me to infer it had young near by. — Samuel N. Rhoades, Haddonjield, 

 N.J. 



Cuckoos laying in the Nests of other Birds. — As far as my 

 knowledge extends, there are only four instances known, in which the 

 eggs of Coccygus americanns have been found in other bird's nests, 

 namely, the two given by Nuttall, in nests of Catbird and one by Langdon 

 in Robin's, and that mentioned by Ridgway in Coccygus erythropkthalmus. 

 I was not a little astonished to find last Saturday, June 4. 1S81, an egg of 

 the Yellow-billed Cuckoo in a Catbird's nest, and near by another one in 

 the nest of a Black-billed Cuckoo. The Catbird's nc'^t contained only 

 one egg of its rightful owner ; another Catbird's egg was found broken on 

 the ground. The Cuckoo's egg was fresh, but the Catbird's ^^^ was in- 

 cubated. The nest of the Black-billed Cuckoo contained besides the para- 

 sitic eg'^, which was fresh, two eggs, both incubated, but one much more 

 than the other, the embryo being fully developed. The parent bird {Coc- 

 cygus erythrophtkalmus) was sitting, but left when the tree was ascended 

 and stationed itself on a near tree to watch our movements. 



The circumstances attending the discovery of these two eggs make me 

 think that such cases of parasitic Cuckoo's eggs might not be so very ex- 

 ceptional and still evade the watchful eye of the collecting odlogist or 

 of the observing ornithologist. I went out to look for nests of Empid- 

 onax acadicus. I took my nephew, a lad of fifteen, with me to assist in 

 taking down nests from trees. In passing a thicket by the wayside, he 

 looked in and immediately called out, " a big nest, blue eggs." Judging 

 from the surroundings, I replied without taking the trouble to look at the 

 thino-, '• a Catbird's nest; let it alone." We passed on and after a little 

 while a Catbird crossed our way. He saw the bird and I told him that this 

 was the Catbird whose nest he had just found. He wondered that a bird 

 of this size lays such large eggs. Inquiring how large the Q.g^ was, he 

 showed the size with thumb and index. I smiled and said it was not ex- 



