18 ORNITHOLOGIST 
Meadow Lark, (Sturnella magna). Plenty 
amidst the grass in the pine woods. 
Blue Jay, (Cyanocitta cristata). Very abun- 
dant; preferring pine woods in the neighborhood 
of oaks, on the acorns of which they feed largely. 
Pewee, (Sayornis fuscus). Abundant in orange 
eroves and pine woods. 
Red-cockaded Woodpecker, (Picus querulus). 
First saw a pair on the 18th, and afterwards found 
them plenty on the pines. Usuaily seen in pairs. 
Red-bellied Woodpecker, (Centurus carolinus), 
Not common. Saw one on the 17th and again on 
the 25th ; both in a hummock. 
Yellow-shafted Flicker, (Colaptes 
Often found in the pine woods. 
Belted Kingfisher, (Ceryle aleyou). Plenty about 
the lakes. 
Marsh Hawk, (Cireus hudsonius). Saw three 
during the month, sailing about over orange 
groves and lake shores. 
Turkey Buzzard, (Cathartes aura), and Black 
Vulture, (Catharista atrata). Constant features 
in all localities. 
Turtle Dove, (Zenatidura carolinensis). 
ally scarce. 
AUTUTUS). 
Unusu- 
Saw several solitary individuals dur- 
ing the month, and a small flock in an orange 
grove on the 28th. 
Ground Dove, (Chamepelia passerina). Abun- 
dant ; frequenting orange groves and their vicinity 
in small flocks. 
Quail, (Ortyx virginiana). Saw a flock of about 
a dozen in the pine woods on the 28th, (may have 
been the Florida variety.) They are undoubtedly 
plenty, but it was my fortune to meet with only 
these. 
Green Heron, (Butorides virescens). Saw one on 
the 18th, by a lake in which, judging from his ap- 
pearance, he had been taking a bath. 
Killdeer Plover, (Ovyechus vociferus). Abun- 
dant; frequenting mostly muddy spots, ditches 
and the vicinity of lakes. 
Pied-billed Grebe, (Podilymbus podiceps). Shot 
a male on the 5th, in the grassy border of a lake. 
eee Oe 
Peculiar Plumage of the Bluebird. 

While collecting in Baltimore County last 
March, I shot a specimen of the common Blue- 
hird in a very remarkable and beautiful plumage. 
The throat, breast and under parts were as in the 
common form, but the entire upper parts were a 
light azure-blue, paler on the head and brightest 
on the rump, with an intense greenish reflection 
in certain lights. Except that it was a little 
paler, the color was exactly like that of the Rocky 
Mountain Bluebird.—A, I. Jennings, Baltimore, 
Muryland. 
[Vol. 11-No. 2 
OOLOGY. 
7. PAREER NORRIS, Editor. 
The Editor assumes no responsibility for those ar. 
ticles which have the names of the writer attached. 
In The Odlogist for January and February, 
(bi-monthly, Albion, N. Y.,) Mr. Harry G. Parker 
writes pleasantly of a trip he took to Chester 
Island, last season, where he found the Long- 
billed Marsh Wren, ( 7elmatodytes palustris), breed- 
ing in great numbers. Such was their abun- 
dance that he secured a hundred sets of eggs in 
asingle day. He found that the usual number 
of eggs in a set was six, though many nests con- 
tained only five, (incubated), and in several there 
were seven and eight. Only one nest contained 
nine, which was the largest number found. His 
visit was on June 15th. 
The same journal also prints papers on “ The 
Birds of Cortland County, N. Y., by M. D. M. ; 
on “ The Nest of the Black and White Creeper,” 
by Wm. R. Kells; and on the ‘‘ Summer Birds 
about Washington, D. C.,” by J. H. Langille, ete. 
—— ee 
Large Number of Eggs of the Black- 
billed Cuckoo. 

In THE ORNITHOLOGIST AND OonocisT for 
January, 1886, Mr. Harry G. Parker contributed 
a very interesting paper on this subject, and 
mentioned having found six eggs of this species, 
(Coccyzus erythropthalmus,) in one nest. Mr, 
Parker speaks of his experience as probably be- 
ing unique, but on referring to the file of the O. 
and O. for 1884, it appears that Mr. C. O. Tracy, 
of Taftsville, Vt., described a nest of this bird 
which contained three young birds and three 
egges.—Ornithologist and Odlogist for February, 
1884, Vol. LX, p. 17. 
—_—_—_> —___ 
Relative Size and Number of Eggs. 

In 1857, in his North American Odlogy, Part I, 
p. 5, Dr. Brewer remarked that “the length of a 
bird cannot always be taken as a safe guide in 
determining the probable size of its egg. Much 
depends upon the shape and relative capacity of 
the pelvis, and much also upon the degree of de- 
velopment possessed by the young bird when 
first hatched, Birds whose young are hatched in 
an advanced stage of maturity, and can shift for 
themselves from the egg, like many species of 
shore birds, the Uriw and others, have invariably 
proportionately very large eggs, and vice versa 
except only where the female deposits a large 
