166 



OROTTHOLOGIST 



[Yol. i2-:Nro. 10 



while between the two extremes a difference of 

 over 13 per cent occurred. 



Before the summer heats come on the young 

 are well fledged. The lads and lassies don no 

 childhood's garb but wear from the start the 

 livery which is to distinguish them in after life. 

 The boy's jackets to be sure, are less lustrous 

 than their papa's dress coats, and the girls can 

 just be distinguished from their mammas ; but 

 the plumage of the two sexes never at any 

 stage bears the least resemblance. 



Meanwhile at all times old Jack makes for 

 the centre islands and the sea islands as soon 

 as his family are able to move with him, and 

 hardly shows his nose beyond the influence of 

 the freshest kind of fresh sea breezes until the 

 first cool mornings set in ; then he will be 

 found again on the top of the same old oak 

 giving us a weak rehearsal of his spring time 

 production. 



In his j-elations to agriculture the Boat-tailed 

 Grackle may probably be claimed as useful, 

 although he does some slight damage to corn 

 and early peas. Ilis food while in the culti- 

 vated fields is mainly of an animal nature. 

 With a powerful bill and great curiosity to 

 back it he must destroy many grubs and insects. 

 Still the bulk of his sustenance is obtained 

 from the marsh and coast side. 



One point must have struck every taxider- 

 mist who has ever skinned a Jack Daw. The 

 head of the old male is fearfully tough ; the 

 skin slips readily over the skulls of females 

 and young males, but once get hold of a real 

 old patriarch — a magnificent specimen— and 

 you have got your work cut out. Every thing 

 goes on serenely right up to the back of the 

 skull, and then comes the tug; patience and 

 care will bring the skin over all right, but a 

 "busted" head is frequently found on a collec- 

 tor's first Jack Daw. 



Number of Eggs in a Set. 



BY C. S. BRIMLEY, RALEIGH, N. C. 



Seeing this subject discussed in the August 

 O. AND O. by Mr. Iloxie, I give some experi- 

 ences of my own on the subject, as being pos- 

 sibly of some interest. 



First, as to the number of eggs varying with 

 the habitat, 1 find that several species in this 

 locality lay less than the usual number, as fol- 

 lows: 



Wood Thrush {Hylocichla iimstelina)^ usual 

 number four; at least one-third of the incu- 



bated sets in this locality consist of three only, 

 and in 18SG I found a complete set of only two 

 (incubated) , but in this case the eggs were much 

 larger than usual. Abundant. 



Catbird {Gnleoscoptes carolinensis) ^ usual 

 number four, never more ; about one-fourth of 

 the sets or more only three. Abundant. 



Brown Thrasher {Ilarporhynrhus rufus), usu- 

 al number three, occasionally four; rather 

 scarce in the breeding season. 



Carolina Wren (Thryothnrus ludovicianus) , 

 five appears to be the usual number in this lo- 

 calitj^ Common. 



Yellow-breasted Chat {Icteria virens), usual 

 number to a set four, but sets of three are quite 

 comonly found. Common. 



Field Sparrow {SpizeUa pusilla)^ usual num- 

 ber four; this year nearly every nest I have 

 examined contained only three eggs or young, 

 and only one set of four was taken. Usually 

 four is the rule, three the exception. 



Secondly, why should birds nesting in holes 

 frequently lay a comparatively large number of 

 eggs, as for instance the Great-crested Fly- 

 catcher (Myrarchus crinitus)^ which lay five or 

 six as a rule in this locality, while its relatives, 

 the Bee Martin {Tyrannus carolinensis) and 

 Wood Pewee ( Contopus virens) only lay three 

 or four at the most. The Vireos, Nuthatches 

 and Titmice will also present themselves as ex- 

 amples of the same fact. 



The ^Vood Ibis in ^A^estern Ken- 

 tucky. 



BY L. O. PINDAR. 



1 was much interested in Mr. Hoxie's notes 

 on the above bird, and decided to give ray ex- 

 perience on the species. And fii'st, I will say 

 that I will not try to describe its habits as Mr. 

 Hoxie has so ably done so. I could only re- 

 peat what he has already given. 1 never saw 

 the birds till this year, and it was early in the 

 morning, July 15th, that I noticed a number of 

 white birds on Island No. 6, opposite Hickman. 

 They were about three quarters of a mile off", 

 and a boy with me said they were Pelicans. 

 But in the afternoon I found them at a little 

 pond not a mile from town and not three hun- 

 dred yards from a sawmill. In fact, they were 

 not at all suspicious, alighting within a stone's 

 throw of a couple of wood-choppers several 

 times and not seemingly alarmed in the least. 

 Upon finding them here I hurried home after 

 my gun, and on returning found one on the 



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