Dee. 1886.] 
green and fir trees that are numerous in the lawns 
and nurseries in the vicinity of the town. 
But as summer residents they may be considered 
extremely rare, only two or three instances of 
their nesting in the county (Chester) have come to 
my notice. The only data, however, to which I 
have access is that of a set of five taken by myself 
on the 15th of April, 1870. 
These eggs are as brilliant and glossy now as 
on the day they were taken, over sixteen years 
since. The location of this nest was near the 
centre of a large tract of woodland. It was placed 
in the crotch of a medium-sized chestnut tree, 
about thirty feet from the ground. The tree 
sloped over a ravine, and was not at all difficult 
to climb. 
The nest was evidently an old structure, prob- 
ably one that had been used by a pair of Crows 
the previous season. The interior seemed to have 
been torn out, and replaced by coarser materials 
than are usual to the Crow, making a platform- 
shaped nest of sticks, pieces of bark, etc., with a 
few feathers. 
Upon this the eggs, five in number were placed, 
and from the length of time the bird had been 
sitting—probably ten days or two weeks, they 
were much soiled and stained. This, however, 
was easily removed by an application of soap and 
yater, which left them a very handsome set. 
These eggs have the usual shape that distinguishes 
the Long-eared Owls, an elongated form with 
both ends so nearly of a size in some of them as 
to mage it impossible to tell the large from the 
small end. The measurements of this set are 
1.58x1.28, 1.58x1.29, 1.59x1.28, 1.65x1.26, 1.65x1.29. 
The female did not leave her nest until I had 
almost reached her, and then she flew, or rather 
dropped to the ground, and went through a series 
of evolutions that would lead a novice to imagine 
she was badly wounded, or in her death agonies. 
I do not remember that she uttered a single 
vocal sound, although she manifested great dis- 
pleasure by loud snapping of her beak as she flew 
around me at close quarters. 
A long search through all the adjacent woods 
later in the season failed to discover a second nest 
of these birds, and, indeed, never since have I 
found the Long-eared Owls breeding, or heard of 
any other sets of their eggs being taken in this 
county. 
The murderous law passed by our State legisla- 
ture some two years since, and which has been in 
full operation the past season, is doing its full 
share toward the extermination of this innocent 
bird, along with its more objectionable relative, 
the Great Horned Owl, which is really the only 
species of our Raptores of doubtful use to mankind. 
AND OOLOGIST. 
189 
EIN POMOLROG Ss. 
WRIGHT P. BATES, 
265 No. Beacon St., Brighton, Mass., 
ASSOCIATE EDITORS. 
Address all communications for this department as above 

Sphingidae of New England. 
BY WRIGHT & BATES. 
SPHINX CELUS.—Huh. 
Head and palpi ashy-gray; tongue twice as 
long as the body; thorax ashy-gray with two ir- 
regular transverse black lines crossing the anteri- 
or portion, and two more originating at the sides 
of the metathorax and meeting at the centre of 
the second transverse line; metathorax with a 
large black patch on either side, surmounted: by 
two tufts, bluish in the middle. Tibi and tarsi 
of fore legs armed exteriorly with a row of strong 
black spines. 
Abdomen dark gray, with a slender black dor- 
sal line, five or six orange-yellow spots on either 
side, separated, and all but the anterior, bordered 
by black bands having white spots above and be- 
neath at the junction of the segments. Under 
side of the thorax and abdomen ashy-gray, shaded 
with reddish, the latter with a ventral row of 
black spots. 
Anteriors gray, shaded with brownish in the 
middle; three slender black lines run from the 
basal portion of the inner margin obliquely to the 
disc; three more arise at about the middle of the 
inner margin and curve toward the inner angle, 
thence undulating across the nervules, where they 
form a blackish shade, to the costal edge; a slen- 
der black line runs along the sub-margin from 
near the inner angle, followed by a white line, 
both parallel with the margin until they near the 
sub-apical line, where they turn toward the disc, 
forming nearly a right angle; an apical and sub- 
apical black line extends toward the disc; two 
fine parallel black lines, connecting apically, ex- 
tend from near the apical end of the marginal 
black line, almost to the disc, between the last 
sub-costal and the first median nervules. 
Posteriors light gray, with a black spot at the 
base, followed by a short black line and then by 
two central serrated black lines extending across 
the wings; marginal space dark gray, bordered 
broadly above with black. Fringes gray, spotted 
with white. 
Under side gray, both wings being crossed by 
two black lines, crenated anteriorly and becoming 
almost obsolete on the anteriors; marginal space 
