March 1887.] 



A^D OOLOGIST. 



45 



from the egg I noticed that wherever they had 

 attached themselves to the egg, the egg was 

 pure white, the slugs having absorbed all the 

 coloring matter from the shell. 



Here was a nest containing six eggs, about 

 which there could be no question ; as to wlieth- 

 er they were all laid bj^ one bird it is impossi- 

 ble to say. Of course, one can imagine many 

 ways in which the nest came to have so many 

 eggs, but I am quite certain that in this case it 

 was not caused by the interference of human 

 beings, it being in a wild and secluded spot sel- 

 dom visited. 



Eeturning to the snail question, I would like 

 to ask wliat substance is it with which tlie slug- 

 seems provided that will take the color fi-om a 

 Robin's egg, when with soap we cannot wash it 



otr? 



Henslow's Sparrow. 



BV L. JONES, GRINNELL, IOWA. 



Henslow's Sparrow {Coturniculus hensloiri) 

 so closely resembles in appearance its near re- 

 lation the Yellow-winged Sparrow (Coturnicu- 

 l us passe rin us) that one might easily be mista- 

 ken at first sight by appearances. But not so 

 with the song. Instead of the long-drawn in- 

 sect tone of passerinus, the song of henslovn 

 consists in a few short and rapidly uttered notes ; 

 something like this : tsc, tse, tsip. Force the air 

 through your closed teeth, make the sylables as 

 short as possible, and you will have a fair re- 

 semblance to this bird's song. 



Its manner of feeding, and its breeding habits 

 too, are very nearlj' like those of passerinus. 

 Its nest which is placed on the ground in a tuft 

 of grass, is composed almost entirely of dry 

 grass with occasionally a few of the long hairs 

 from a cows tail. The four or five eggs are 

 greenish or grayish white, pi-of usely sjipckled, 

 blotched and dotted with several shades of 

 brown and lilac shell markings, and average 

 about .75 X .57. 



It arrived atGrinnell, Iowa, on April 17, 1886, 

 and became common by tlie 23d. From its ar- 

 rival and until August 2d its song was heard, 

 but it was not resumed later. Breeding about 

 May 25th, it leaves us by October 16th. 



This is a bird of the fields and meadows, fre- 

 quenting grassy but not bushy places. The 

 over-grown, neglected field, or many seeded 

 meadows are favorite resorts, and here it nests 

 in profusion. C. henslovn is one of our most 

 common sparrows, but strange to say, it is 

 hardly known to our local ornithologists. 



ENTOMOLOGY. 



J. A. WRIGHT. 

 265 No. Beacon St., Brighton, Mass., 



ASSOCIATE EDITOR. 

 Address all coiumuiiications for this department as above. 



A Few Field Notes. 



UV L. E. HOOD. 



I went out to the Maiden woods, Jan. 31st, 

 with a hatchet, to collect under the bark of 

 some dead trees. In a little more than an hour 

 and a half, I found about a hundred and twenty- 

 five specimens, of about twenty species of Col- 

 eoptera. 



With the exception of turning a few stones 

 lying in an inviting place among some leaves 

 on a side hill free from snow, I put my whole 

 attention to a few oak and pine trees, cutting 

 oft' the bark and taking the beetles I uncovered. 



When I first arrived at my localily, I gained 

 the summit of a high rock and looked oft" among 

 the trees to find a large dead one that would 

 seem to be worthy of my time; seeing one not 

 far oft" I worked my way there, getting several 

 specimens of Adalia biptmctata^ Linn, and mel- 

 anotus communus, Gyll., under bai-k of trees 

 along my path. 



My first beetle under the bark of the big dead 

 tree, was a fine lihagium lineatum, Oliv. This 

 was followed by several specimens of Cleridtv, 

 Chri/somelidai and a couple of weevils, while 

 there were more Jlelanutus and a species of fire 

 fly, than I wanted to bother with. 



The only work in winter, that pays for the 

 time spent in collecting, is with the hatchet in 

 both dead and living trees. As a matter of 

 course, there will alwaj^s be the common spe- 

 cies of EJate)id(ti and a scarce representation of 

 other families tiiat will not be worth the troub- 

 le of collecting; but I do not know of a single 

 trip that I have ever taken, when I did not get 

 one or more species that well repaid me for 

 mj' trouble and time. This day was not an ex- 

 ception, and two extra small specimens of 

 Coccinella (Cycloneda) sanguinea, Linn., were 

 the two choice prizes. 



They were of an unusually light color, but 

 have been growing darker since I found them, 

 until now they are darker than any other speci- 

 mens in my cabinet. 



A young collector often wonders at finding a 

 species that should be brown or black, of a 

 light cream color ; but this is owing to the fact 



