Oct. 1886.] 
AND OOLOGIST. 
155 


moss, entirely concealing the sticks used in build- 
ing. Eggs taken out of nest with small bag tied 
to the end of my fishing pole. Both birds show- 
ing fight.” Idid not wonder at the kites showing 
when I tried to blow the egg, as incubation was 
so far advanced that the young birds were nearly 
dry in the egg. They would have hatched in the 
next three days. I drilled a one-eighth inch hole 
in the eggs, and putting them in a box, hole 
downwards, I set the box on a bed of the “Texas 
Cutting Ant” and they finished the cleaning pro- 
cess during the next twenty-four hours. I have 
saved many sets of eggs of hawks and owls in 
this manner. 
The set, as is usual, contained two eggs, meas- 
uring 1.85x1.47 and 1.79x1.48. Ground color 
was dirty white (probably stained,) and irregular- 
ly marked with spots and blotches of dull brown 
—in the smaller egg tending to form a ring 
around the smaller end. I have heard of a set of 
three being taken in the Colorado River bottoms, 
but can get no particulars. I have a record of 
thirteen nests having been found containing eggs 
or young, and in only one instance—a nest with 
three young—was there more than two eggs or 
young in the nest. Can it be that Audubon de- 
pended upon hearsay in stating that four to six 
was the number of eggs ina set? Very often the 
boys whom I employ to collect tell me that they 
have found nests of the Red-bellied Hawk with 
four or five eggs; those of the Turkey Buzzard 
with three to four eggs; and Swallow-tailed 
Kite with five eggs; but I notice when I require 
them to authenticate the sets taken for me, those 
large sets fail to appear. I have been making in 
quiries in other portions of the State about this 
species, and in a letter lately received from Mr. 
E. T. Dumble, Secretary of the Texas State Geo- 
logical and Scientific Society, he says: ‘The 
Swallow-tailed Kite arrives here early in the 
spring, leaving late in the fall. No nest has been 
observed with more than two eggs.” The italics are 
mine. 
The Swallow-tailed Kite is an abundant sum- 
mer resident in Mr. Dumble’s locality, Houston, 
Texas, and everywhere else along the timbered 
portions of the coast country, consequently he 
can be accepted as an authority. 
I have made arrangements with collectors in 
three counties to collect the eggs of this Kite, and 
we will see what another year will bring forth. 
[The above paper is of far more than ordinary 
interest and value. It gives the experiences of a 
practical collector who has given much time and 
thought to the subject, and who speaks from his 
own experience. 
The results obtained from the observation of 
such men are always of the greatest importance, 
and Mr. Singley deserves the thanks of all inter- 
ested for his efforts to settle the facts connected 
with the nidification of this beautiful bird. 
Audubon seems to have been the first who as- 
serted that this Kite laid from four to six eggs, 
and be has been followed by nearly all writers 
down to the present day. Even so careful a 
naturalist as Mr. N. 8. Goss, seems to have gone 
astray on this subject. In The Avk for January, 
1885, (Vol. II., p. 19,) he related his experience in 
finding the nests of this species, and states that 
he examined four of them. ‘‘ Three of these had 
only one egg in each; in the other there were two 
eggs nearly ready to hatch, and the shell of one 
at the foot of the tree; but I have it on good au- 
thority,” he continues, “that in the near vicinity 
a nest with four, and another with six, eggs have 
been found.” It is unfortunate that Mr. Goss did 
not give his authority for this statement, as his 
theory (given further on in the same article,) that 
crows had eaten the other eggs in the nests that 
he examined, must be regarded as a very fanciful 
one. 
In the new edition of his Birds of Kansas (1886,) 
Mr. Goss repeats his statement that this species 
lays from “four to six” eggs. It would be inter- 
esting ‘to know if Mr. Goss has ever seen a well 
authenticated set of four eggs of this Kite, to say 
nothing of a larger number, or if he knows of any 
one who has them in his possession. 
All the sets that the present writer knows of 
are uniformly two in number.—J. P. N.] 
———$—<—$———<—__|_— 
The Florida or White-eyed Towhee. 

RY WALTER HOXIE, FROGMORE, §&. C. 

T have been so fortunate the present season as 
to obtain several sets of the Florida or White-eyed 
Towhee, (Pipilo erythrophthalmus allent). That 
they have hitherto escaped me is owing to the 
fact that I did not know where to look for them. 
While tabulating some notes last winter I was 
struck by the frequent occurrence of “Chewink ob- 
served in pine tree,’ “ Towhee shot on pine sap. 
ling,” and the like, and then the thought occurred 
to me that it was possible that near pines I might 
stumble upon the nest of this species. My sub- 
sequent work proves the correctness of my de- 
duction. 
All the nests of the White-eyed Towhee that I 
have found this spring were in pines. The height 
from the ground varied from four to twenty feet. 
This last seems to be an extreme case. The 
average is about five feet. The nest is rather a 
shabby affair composed of coarse weeds and grass 
