Feb. 1S90.J 



AIS^D OOLOGI8T. 



25 



"smaller and usually darker and redder/' (P. 

 )i)()])t((tiiis, it will be remembered, is the species 

 of European Sparrow that was introduced and 

 naturalized in tlie nei<;hborho<Kl of .St. Louis.) 



For a lonji' time I have been desirous of ob- 

 taininj;- some sets of e^fi's of the European Tree 

 .Sparrow that were laid in this country. It 

 was an easy matter to obtain European speci- 

 mens, but these were not desired. Through 

 the kindness of the well-known natur.alist, Mr. 

 Otto Widman, 1 have at last succeeded in my 

 object, as he specially collected .several sets 

 for me last season, beinji especially careful 

 about the identification of the specimens. 



.Set I. .June 10, IWU. Old Orchard, Missou- 

 ri. Collected by Otto Widman. Four e<if>s. 

 (;reenish-<;ray. thit-kly si>eckled and sjiotted 

 witli mouse-^ray. In one ego- the markin<i,s 

 are darker, approaching to blackish-.slate cohn-, 

 and in all the others the specks and spots are 

 evenly distributed all over the surface of the 

 eggs: .74x.5."): . 72 x. .");"); .()Sx..")4: .(ii) x .;")."). 



Set II. .lune 20, ISSli. Old Orchard, .Mi.s- 

 souri. Collected by Otto Widman. Three 

 eggs. The ground color in this set runs from 

 drab into bistre, while the heavy spots and 

 specks forming the markings range from bistre 

 to seal l)rown. The si)ots become confluent 

 near the larger end, and the general effect is 

 that of very dark, heavily marked eggs: .7-"> x 

 .'>~i : .72 X ..")(): .71 x ..").">. 



.Set III. .lune 2.'). IS,*^!). Old Orchard, Mis- 

 souri. Collected by Otto Widman. This set 

 originally contained six eggs but one of them 

 was broken by the collector in removing them 

 fiom the nest. Groiuid color grayish-green, 

 varying in intensity in the different eggs in the 

 set, thickly speckled ;ind spotted with mouse 

 gTay. The markings are heaviest near the 

 larger ends: .71x..");i: .70 x. ."):!: .74x.."i4: .71 

 X ..").">: .74 X ..")4. 



.Set IV. .June IS. issi). Old < )ic]iard, Mis- 

 souri. Collected by Otto Widman. There 

 were six eggs found in the nest, but one was 

 broken by the collector in taking them from the 

 nest. In this connection it should be remarked 

 that all these sets were laid in bird houses on 

 Mr. Widman's premises; and the birds com- 

 pletely tilled u]) the partitions of the house 

 witli the same heterogenous collectioi7 of trash 

 employed by their cousins, the /V.s.s-fc damesti- 

 i-iis. The entrances to the bird houses being 

 snnill, it was a matter of considerable difficulty 

 to remove the nests through them, and in do- 

 ing this some of the eggs fell out and were 

 broken. Foui' of the five remaining eggs of 

 this set have a ground color of drab, but this 



is so thickly covered with minute markings of 

 hair brown and bistre that they have very 

 much the appearance of eggs of the Long-billed 

 Marsh Wren {Clf<totliontf< jxilitstris.) The fifth 

 egg presents a remarkable contrast, for the 

 ground color is of a very light greenish-white 

 (almost a pure white) boldly nuirked with 

 large spots of bistre. \o one who was un- 

 acipiainted with the remarkable egg.s that one 

 constantly finds in ordinary looking sets of 

 Prt.s.sTr <l<)me.sfici(n would think that this egg- 

 belonged to the same set as the other four: 

 . 7.'^ X ..").") ; . 74 X. .")"); .7()X.r)0; .74x.r);5; .74x..'ir). 



Set V. July 2, 18S9. Old Orchard, Missouri. 

 C'ollected by Otto Widman. Five eggs. Cround 

 color of four of them is bail- brown, very 

 heavily marked with minute dots of olive and 

 seal brown. 'I'iie ground color is almost wholly 

 obscured, and at a short distance they appear 

 to be of a solid color, as is the case with eggs 

 of a.-^tot/ioriiK jxilusfrl.s. The fifth egg has a 

 white ground coloi-, spotted heavily with bi.s- 

 tre. It presents a marked contrast to the 

 other four eggs: .77x..")7; .78 x. ")."); .7.") x .."tB; 

 .77 X ..57; .78 x .5(5. 



For purposes of comjiarison I also add the 

 following description of a set taken in Europe: 



Set VI. May ;5, 188."). Loughboro, England. 

 Four eggs. Ground color, pearl-gray, very 

 heavily spotted and speckled with hair l)rown 

 and olive: .71 x. .").■>:. 71 x. .")(;: .(i0x..")4; .7()x..")4. 



As compared with a series of sixty-five sets 

 of eggs of PtiNser (hniifKfirufi in my cabinet, 

 exhibiting fully the great variation to which 

 the eggs of that bird aie subject, the six sets 

 of eggs of Pkssci- Dioyitdints described above are 

 very much smaller (eggs of P. dnwe.stlcnK 

 averaging about .1)0 x. ")"),) and they are also 

 much darker in appearance than flic general 

 run of eggs of P. .•/o/j/f^s-//r((.s-. ./. p, JV. 



In the Woods at Dogwood Time. 



When tlu' dogwood {('urnnx Jior'ala) ripens 

 its bei-ries in Xovember and the nights get 

 cold, and sometimes the days also, it is inter- 

 esting to note the birds that flock around their 

 old favorites to get a good square meal. 



First and foremost hundreds of Bluebirds 

 fly backwards and forwards between the big- 

 trees and the dogwoods, seemingly never sat- 

 isfied; then all the robins in the neighborhood 

 join in too until some festive colored man brings 

 his musket along and scatters them. The 

 Hermit Thrush also unites with his more 

 noisy and numerous relatives in the repast, 



