Feb. 1883.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



11 



were found near streams. The most of 

 these nests were in low Cedars, but two 

 were in tangled grapevines ; one in an alder 

 directly over a small stream, about four 

 feet from the water ; one in a Wild Rose. 

 Five is the latgest number of eggs to a set 

 I have ever seen ; but I think three is the 

 usual set in this locality at least. Two of 

 the nests had only two eggs each, which 

 was the full set, as incubation was far ad- 

 vanced. They are among our latest breed- 

 ers, first sets being found about the first 

 of Jiuie, and one set of three was found 

 August 7th ; incubated about one week. In 

 a set of five which I emptied for a friend 

 was a " runt egg." I did not have time to 

 measure them, but the '"runt" was less 

 than one-third smaller than the rest, and 

 contained a well formed embryo of the 

 same proportionate size as the others. 

 'Could this have ever grown to a strong, 

 full-sized bird ? I think, however, he 

 would have made way for the " sur- 

 vival " of his " fitter " brothers. I know of 

 no eggs that show as much variation in size 

 and markings as the eggs of the "Red- 

 bird." I have a set of three, two of which 

 are so thickly marked with lilac, slate and 

 brown as to cover almost entirely the 

 ground ; the third is grayish white, simply 

 flecked with spots of reddish brown and 

 very bright lilac ; others are marked with 

 light reddish and faint lilac, exactly like 

 those of the Tufted Titmouse, and these 

 are generally the smallest eggs I have no- 

 ticed, while the larger have darker mark- 

 ings. Others still, look just like White- 

 rumped Shrikes' eggs, and I have one set 

 which can scarcely be distinguished from 

 some Cowbirds' eggs. The strength of this 

 bird's bill is remarkable. They can easily 

 crush a grain of the hardest of yellow corn, 

 and this is no small job even for a good 

 set of teeth. This grain is a favorite food 

 with them, but when they can get it readily 

 they only bite out the germ. The females 

 of this species sing almost as much as the 

 males, though their song is not so rich or 



as loud as that of the male. If the song of 

 any bird could be tiresome or monotonoiis 

 to me, I think it would be this one. It is 

 an endless repetition of two whistles like 

 " White-Oak," repeated six or seven times, 

 and then the same two whistles reversed 

 in order, as " Oak- White " repeated about 

 the same number of times. This is all of it, 

 but it is such a rich, clear, flute-like tone, 

 that it would more than make up for even 

 a greater lack of variety than there is. This 

 song is the favorite one of the Mocking 

 Bird, and is repeated by it hour after hour. 

 The Redbird has also other notes, which 

 it uses very sparingly, however. It is a 

 soft warble, and can only be heard when 

 very near the bird. But this is far 

 sweeter to me than its louder song. The 

 sharp "■ chink " is easily imitated and I have 

 called them with it up to almost arm's 

 length, by keeping perfectly still, biit at 

 the first wink they were ofl". — Edgar A. 

 Small, Hagerstown, Md. 



Crow axd Snake. — While riding down 

 through Occum, Conn., on May 26th last, 

 we noticed a crow on a level garden bed 

 killing a snake, which was not less than 

 eighteen inches long. The snake seemed 

 fully conscious of what was going on and 

 tried to get away, but showed fight every 

 time it was seized. It was interesting to 

 see the crow bite him, lift him up and 

 throw him to the ground, keeping one eye 

 on us the while. This went on for some 

 time, the snake getting weaker every bout. 

 The crow evidently not liking the nearness 

 of myself and carriage, seized the snake 

 within a few inches of its head and flew 

 Avith it into the large trees beyond the 

 Wequonock River where we could not 

 watch its further operations. The snake 

 hung down its full length while being car- 

 ried over the river. Crows are great scav- 

 engers, especially while they have young 

 in the nest, and during this time they will 

 carry off more very young chickens than 

 any Hawk in North America. 



