98 



OROTTHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 15-JS^o. 7 



Set XI, May 3, 1880. Camargo, Mexico. 

 Nest of grass, weeds, stalks and rand, in small 

 tree. Four eggs, fresh. Tale bluish, faintly 

 clouded at the smaller ends with raw umber, 

 and heavily lined with black: 1.32 x. 85; 

 1.31 X. 85; 1.28X.84; 1.25x.88. 



Set XII. May 4, 1889. Camargo, Mexico. 

 Nest principally of grass, in ebony tree, ten 

 feet from the ground. Four eggs, fresh. Light 

 bluish, clouded at tlie smaller ends with raw 

 umber, and heavily lined witli black: 1.28 x .8(1; 

 1.29X.85; 1.21 x. 86; 1.35x.85. 



Set XIII. April 18, 1889. Camargo, Mex- 

 ico. Nest of weeds, grass, etc., in mesquite 

 tree ten feet from ground. Four eggs, Tale 

 bluish, three of the eggs more or less clouded 

 all over with raw umber, but the fourth has 

 the cloudings at the smaller end. All are 

 heavily lined with black: 1.28 x. 85; ].23x.8y; 

 1.25 X. 84; 1.29x.87. 



Set XIV. April 17, 1889. Camargo, Mex- 

 ico. Nest of dry leaves, grass, etc., in small 

 tree, six feet from ground. Four eggs, fresh. 

 Pale bluish, clouded more or less all over the 

 surface, but especially at the smaller ends, 

 with raw umber. Lined with burnt umber 

 and black: 1.20 x. 80; 1.17x.83; 1.18x.87; 

 1.20X.S5. 



Set XV. May 15, 1884. Pelican Island, 

 south-east coast of Texas. Nest of rough, 

 fibrous plants, built on the top of a Spanish 

 bayonet plant. Five eggs, fresh. One of 

 them is bluish, another drab, and the other 

 three are drab-gitiy. All but the drab egg have 

 raw umber cloudings at the smaller ends, and 

 all are heavily lined with black: 1.34x.88; 

 1.30X.89; 1.31 x. 89; 1.24x.8G; 1.30 x. 88. 



Set XVI. May 14, 1884. Corpus Christi, 

 Texas. Nest in prickly pear cactus, four feet 

 from ground. Five eggs, fresh. Pale bluisli, 

 more or less clouded, but especially at the 

 smaller ends, with raw umber, and lined with 

 black: 1.43 x .91; 1.38 x. 90; 1.30x.87; 1.28x.85; 

 1.26X.89. 



Set XVII. May 20, 1884. Padre Island, 

 Texas. Nest in low bush. Five eggs, fiesh. 

 Pale bluish, more or less clouded all over the 

 surface, but especially at the smaller ends 

 with raw umber, and heavily lined with black: 

 1.27 X. 88; 1.29 x. 93; 1.32x.8(); 1.30x.89; 

 1.35X.84. 



Set XVIII. April 23, 1889. Camargo, Mex- 

 ico. Nest of grasses, and placed in top of a 

 small ebony tree. Four eggs, fresh. Pale 

 bluish, clouded unevenly over the surface, 

 but especially at the smaller ends, with raw 

 umber, and heavily lined with burnt umber 



and black: 1.31 x. 80; 1.23x.87; i.27x.88; 

 1.24 X. 87. 



Set XIX. May 20, 1888. Nueces County, 

 Texas. Nest in reeds, three feet from the 

 water. Four eggs, incubation begun. Pale 

 bluish, heavily clouded with burnt umber at 

 the smaller ends, and heavily lined with 

 black : ] .37 x .88 ; 1 .38 x .88 ; 1 .34 x .86 ; 1 .30 x 85. 



Set XX. June 26, 1889. Camargo, Mexico. 

 Nest in mes(iuite bush, six feet frojn the 

 grotuid. Four eggs, incubation advariccd. 

 Pale bluish, clouded at the smaller ends with 

 raw umber, and lined with burnt umber and 

 black: 1.2Sx.85; 1.20 x. 82; 1.25 x .79; 1.29x84. 



Mr. Ridgway, in his Manual of North Amer- 

 ican Birds, page 381, gives the size of the eggs 

 of this sjiecies as 1.31 x. 87, but it will be 

 noticed tliat the great majority of those in the 

 above series are not that large. 



A peculiarity of the eggs of the Great- 

 tailed Crackle is the manner in which they are 

 almost always clouded at the smaller end witli 

 a shade of brown. This makes them appear 

 as if the ground color was of two shades — 

 brownish at the smaller ends and bluish at the 

 larger. I have never noticed this in eggs of 

 the Boat-tailed Crackle, although I have good 

 sized series of both species before me. 



./. P. N. 



A Four-Storied Nest. 



At a meeting of the Loudon Ornithological 

 .Section of the Entomological Society of Ontario, 

 Mr. J. Osborn exhibited a four-storied nest of 

 the Yellow Warbler {Dendroica (estiva), wliich 

 he had recently taken near London. In the 

 lower story a Cowbird's egg had been laid, 

 then the second story was put on and another 

 Cowbird's egg laid, a third story added and a 

 third Cowbird's egg laid in it, and in the 

 fourth story were two eggs of the Warbler 

 herself. 



Mr. II. Stevenson reported a nest of the 

 same species, seven inches deep outside, which 

 had the appearance of having been built in 

 different seasons, but the nest was unfortun- 

 ately lost on the drive in from the country. 



Other members of the section reported 

 having found nests of the Yellow Warbler 

 with a single Cowbird's egg partly buried in 

 the lloor of the nest so that it would not hatch. 

 In one instance the young were hatched and 

 the Cowbird's egg rotten when found. 



D. Arnott. 



