36 ORNITHOLOGIST 
[Vol. 11-No. 3 

° . 
OOLAIGXS: 
J. PARKER NORRIS, Editor. 
The Editor assumes no responsibility for those ar- 
ticles which have the names of the writer attached. 
Nests of Long-billed Marsh Wren. 

It has often been noticed that the Long-billed 
Marsh Wren (T7éelmatodytes palustris), builds many 
more nests than are occupied by the birds, and 
it has been suggested that perhaps this was done 
as an amusement, by the males, while the females 
are sitting on their eggs. Mr. J. W. Preston, of 
Baxter, Iowa, writes that he is of opinion that 
the true reason is on account of meadow mice 
vetting into them; and that this wren will not 
remain in the nests when they have been dis- 
turbed in any way. In case of the latter event 
happening the wrens at once build a new home; 
and Mr. Preston says he has seen more than fifty 
new nests in one small marsh, all of which were 
deserted, and some of them contained portions of 
ege shells, evidently the work of mice. 
—_—— ~~ -—— 
Breeding of the Barn Owl Near 
Philadelphia. 
BY HARRY G. PARKER, CHESTER, PENN. 
The Tinicum meadows lying just below Phila- 
delphia, on the Delaware River, on account of 
their marshy nature and the quantity of insects 
and small quadrupeds which abound, offer temp- 
tation of no mean kind to the Barn Owl (Aluco 
Hlammeus americanus), and 1 know of five in- 
stances of their eggs having been found there 
during the past eight years: 
April 13, 1877, Mr. Isaac Reiff, the well-known 
odlogist of Philadelphia, took a fresh set of five 
eggs. 
April 13 and 15, 1881, the same gentleman took 
two more sets of four eggs each. 
April 18, 1882. This vear the birds had been 
much disturbed, and only laid two eggs, which 
were left for incubation. 
April 12, 1885, I found a set of five fresh eggs. 
These meadows are very low, and it is only by 
means of irrigation that they are rendered fit pas- 
ture land for the immense number of cattle which 
arrive from the west, and which are here allowed 
to recuperate and fatten before being slaughtered. 
The nests in every case were found in the re- 
cesses of some of the weather-beaten and blasted 
oaks which are here and there to be found, but 
which are growing fewer every year owing to 
storms. We never failed to detect the presence 
of the Barn Owls by means of the large pellets 
which they exude, and which are? found lying 
about the trunks of the trees where they have 
their nests. 
[The above instances of the Barn Owl breed- 
ing near Philadelphia are of more than common 
interest, owing to the fact that it is comparatively 
a rare bird in that neighborhood. 
This species of owl appears to be more common 
in California than elsewhere, and it seems to lay 
more eggs ina set in that locality than it does 
further east. Seven and eight eggs are no un- 
common number there, but who ever heard of 
that many being found in one nest in any other 
part of the country ?—Eb. | 
An Oological Axiom. 
“T may here mention a fact in Odlogy, appar- 
ently not without its value. In measuring many 
hundred eggs, I have noticed that the variation, 
however great, is less in absolute bulk than in 
contour—in approach to, or departure from, what 
may be regarded as the standard of shape for the 
species. Now this variation in shape is produced 
mainly by difference in the length of the major 
axis, the transverse diameter being approximate- 
ly constant. What additional variation in shape 
may occur, results from slight shifting of the 
point of greatest breadth toward one end or the 
other. Anatomical considerations bear this out. 
Taking the calibre of the oviduct as an approxi- 
mately fixed quantity in the same species, and 
remembering that varying circumstances of age, 
season, and physical vigor, determine the amount 
of fluids secreted to envelope the ovum, it is evi- 
dent that. while the whole capacity of the calca- 
reous shell must vary correspondingly, the differ- 
ence will be mainly in lengthening or shortening 
of the egg, since the contractility of the oviduct 
holds the transverse diameter newly fixed. 
There are also few instances of greater differ- 
ences in the amount, intensity, and distribution 
of pigmentary matter than those occurring among 
hawks, and even in eggs of the same nest com- 
plement. I think it a probable rule, that the 
succession of laying of the eggs can be judged 
by the quantity of pigment in the shell, those 
first extruded being generally the most heavily 
colored, the others growing lighter with gradual 
consumption of the color supply. This is strik- 
ingly illustrated in cases where the same nest has 
been robbed repeitedly—the later laid eggs grad- 
ually losing their coloration, as well as gradually 
growing smaller, with increasing exhaustion of 
the reproductive powers of the parent. Every 
poultry man is familiar with the extreme instance 
of this, when a hen drops an egg often no larger 
than a pigeon’s as the final effort before ceasing 
to lay.” —Coues’ Birds of the Northwest, p. 847. 
