134 



OROTTHOLOGIST 



TYoL 12-]Sro. 8 



about four incht's in the side of a green mossy 

 knoll, near a low, swampy piece of woods, in 

 Lancaster. 



The nest was composed of soft green moss 

 and dry grass and was lined with tine dry grass 

 and very fine rootlets. It was quite bulky but 

 very loosely constructed, and fell apart as soon 

 as removed from the cavitj-, although by care- 

 ful luuidling I managed to save about half of it. 



The eggs are beautiful, especially to the eyes 

 of an oologist. Tliey are delicate creamy 

 white, three of them marked with quite large 

 blotches of reddish-brown about the larger 

 end, while the other two are marked with 

 minute spots of the same color also about the 

 larger end. The eggs closely resemble those 

 of E. trailii, but are a trifle smaller, and i-ather 

 less pointed in shape. 



I am positive about the identity, for I caught 

 the bird on the nest, and identified it by means 

 of Coue's Kei/, with whose description it exact- 

 ly coincided. Its note was a soft "i)ea" fre- 

 quently repeated. 



The Number of Eggs in a Set. 



BY WALTER HOXIE, FKOGMOKE, S. C. 



1 am glad to see this subject discussed in the 

 O. AND O., and think that the more light we 

 have thrown on it the better. 



Now I am quite sure that the number of eggs 

 laid by some species varies greatly with the 

 habitat of the bird. Take the Ked-winged 

 Blackbird {Agclius pJuenicens) as an instance. 

 Three, and nearly as often two, eggs comprise 

 the full nest complement here, while about the 

 middle range of its habitat, four or five are 

 laid. 



Then again an individual peculiarity is some- 

 times noticed. I remember a Robin {Merula 

 migratoria) up in Massachusetts that raised 

 tliiee broods a year for many seasons in the 

 same orchard. Three eggs were all she ever 

 laid, and the third brood was only two. At 

 last came the inevitable cat, or she might have 

 been going on in the same course until today. 



The rule seems to me to be that the more 

 robust the bird the larger the clutch. When 

 the food supply is abundant and regular we 

 naturally look for the highest number of eggs 

 in a set, and vice versa. 



This, I think, is a more plausable explanation 

 of the fact than another, which one of my 

 friends suggests. He surmises that large 

 clutches are laid for the purpose of keeping up 



the standard number of a species in cases 

 wliere they are exposed to extreme vicissitudes 

 of some sort. He instances some species whose 

 nests are made on the ground, and whose eggs 

 are peculiarl}'^ exposed to depredation. It 

 seems to me that this is merely a case of the 

 survival of the fittest, and that if, in past ages, 

 an allied species bad laid small clutches, they 

 have now become extinct. 



This brings me back to my first point, for 1 

 am sure that the Southern Hails lay fewer eggs 

 than the same species do when breeding in the 

 middle and northern states. 



[This suljject is one of the greatest interest 

 that is presented in the study of ornithology or 

 onlog}'. More mistakes have been made by 

 writers in the statement of the number of eggs 

 laid b^- certain species than in xmy other branch. 

 In fact it is only of late years that close atten- 

 tion seems to have been given to the whole sub- 

 ject, and the results attained thus far go to 

 show that we cannot place much reliance on 

 many statements that have appeared in works 

 which are in other respects standard authority. 



It appears to be quite certain that the same 

 species will lay a ditterent luimber of eggs in 

 difterent localities; and it is also a fact that 

 in ditterent seasons in the same localities, the 

 same birds will vary in the number of eggs 

 laid. Thus the following abundant species 

 were observed in Pennsylvania sitting on well- 

 incubated sets of three eggs, in a great many 

 instances, duiing the season of 18SG : Robin 

 {Mentla viujnttoria) ; Wood Thrush {Hijlucichla 

 musteUiHi) ; Catbird {lAaleoscoptes carolinensis) ; 

 and Chipping Sparrow {Spizella clomestica). It 

 is well known that the normal number of eggs 

 laid by these species is tour, and observations 

 conducted during 1887, in the same localities, 

 showed that almost all their nests contained 

 that number. Why then was it different in 

 188G? 



It has been the experience of the present 

 writer, that the number of eggs laid by birds 

 belonging to the famil}^ of liaj^tores has been 

 subject to exaggeration. Almost invariably 

 their number has been stated to be greatei- than 

 really appears to be the case. 



It is to be hoped that the readers of the O. 

 AND O. will freeljr give their experiences on 

 this subject.— J. P. N.] 



Rev. C. M. Jones of Eastford, Conn., secured 

 August 2d a pure albino i-obin, probably a bird 

 of this present year. 



