July, 1886.] 

Again on May 2, 1885, it was my good fortune 
to visit this swamp and learn more of this beauti- 
ful and interesting warbler. The season this year 
had been much more backward than when I 
visited the swamp before, and as a consequence, 
the Protonotarias had not yet begun laying. 
Several unfinished nests were found, but no eggs. 
On my first visit and when the birds were all 
mated and the females were busy with household 
cares, no song was heard, nothing but an occa- 
sional note of alarm when disturbed, which 
seemed much like the syllable piph, piph, uttered 
sharply and hurridly. 
But to-day even the pairing of the birds had 
not yet been settled, and many a combat between 
rival males did I witness. Near the centre of 
their breeding ground was perhaps half an acre of 
comparatively clear space, a pond, in fact, covered 
with a thick growth of water lilies. Standing near 
the edge of this, I would often see a couple of 
males dart by me and cross the open space or 
make the circle of the pond, the one in close pur- 
suit of the other. Often they would cross and 
recross the pond, circle around its margin, and 
then dart off through the trees and disappear from 
view, only to return again after a time to repeat 
the same wild race. Sometimes the one was not 
always a coward, but stood his ground, when a 
fierce conflict would ensue, and frequently they 
would clinch and fall nearly to the water before 
letting loose. Often they would ascend in a spiral 
flight far up among the tops of the trees only to 
return to the pond again. And sometimes I 
would see a male flying alone in a slow fluttering 
way across the open space toward the place where 
the female was busy constructing the nest. His 
wings were bent downward, the tail spread so as 
to show the white very plainly, and as he flew he 
gave expression to his happiness in a somewhat 
excited but pleasing song. Once he perched upon 
a limb above me where he warbled forth a very 
pretty song which I listened to intently then and 
at other times, and tried to represent by syllables. 
I refer to my memoranda made at the time and 
find “twue, twue, twhee, whee, whee, Uwhee, 
t?whee, t’whee, t?whee.” The first two syllables 
are lowest and most subdued, the ¢ being more 
prominent than in the other syllables which vary 
from six to eight in number and are uttered 
rapidly and with slightly increasing volume. The 
interval between the second and third syllables 
was longest, and I sometimes thought the sylla- 
bles were uttered in pairs throughout. I have 
always been more less skeptical as to the possi- 
bility of correctly indicating on paper the songs 
of birds, for it is not so much the particular note 
AND OOLOGIST. 
101 
or order of notes which determines the character, 
which makes the melody of the song, as it is the 
cadence, the way in which these notes are made 
to blend or follow one another, and the quality or 
timbre of the note itself. I imagine that it would 
require a very skillful musician to imitate, even 
approximately, the song of any bird which he had 
never heard, if he were to depend entirely upon 
the syllable representations as given even by our 
best ornithologists. To test the matter I have 
often submitted such representations to various 
ones of my musical friends, always with laughable 
results. What is more painfully ludicrous than 
the attempted imitation of the Bobolink, as given 
by the average elocutionist. To him who has 
heard the delicious song of the happy bird such 
imitations are simply excruciating. 

Eggs of the Roseate Spoonbill. 
BY R. E. RATCHFORD, GRIGSBY’S BLUFF, TEXAS. 
On June 2d we secured a number of sets of eges 
of the Roseate Spoonbill, (Ajaja rosea). One nest 
contained seven eggs, and several had five and six 
in them. All, or nearly all authorities give three 
eggs as the number laid by this species, but our 
experience proves this to be a mistake. The 
identification was perfect, as birds were shot from 
the nest. The eggs vary much, both in size and 
shape, the ground color being white, more or less 
blotched with pale brown. The markings also 
vary very much, as some of the eggs are almost 
white, while othere are thickly blotched. 
[In Davies’ new edition of his excellent Nests 
and Eggs of North American Birds he quotes from 
an article on “The Roseate Spoonbill in Florida 
Rookeries” that appeared in Vol. lof Random 
Notes on Natural History. The writer of that 
article found eight nests containing three eggs 
pach, one with two eggs and one young bird, two 
with four eggs, and one with five. 
A set of three eggs of this bird, collected by 
Mr. Ratchford, are before the present writer. 
They correspond to the average size for this 
species, and are beautifully marked with brown 
spots. Were it not for their elongated shape 
they could readily be mistaken for handsomely 
marked specimens of eggs of the Red-shouldered 
Hawk (Buteo lineatus). 
Notwithstanding Mr. Ratchford’s experience to 
the contrary, it is probable that three is the most 
frequent number of eggs laid by this species.—ED. ] 
Bee ei 
We understand that the fine cabinet of eggs 
owned by the late John Snowdon Howland of 
Newport, R. I., is arranged in the Natural Histo- 
ry rooms, at New Haven, Ct., he having be- 
queathed them to that city. 
