202 



OKNITHOLOGIST 



[YoL 12-:N'o. 12 



be something in it, I explored the place next day, 

 but only heard one Rail and couldn't flush any. 

 So the day after, June 22, both of us started out 

 with our dog and secured two adult Rails and 

 two little ones in the down, which latter the 

 dog set and we caught. On June 27, we shot 

 another old one and a young one about half 

 grown, belonging to an earlier brood than those 

 in the down, and later on in July we took sev- 

 eral more, an old one and two minature birds 

 nearly in full feather. Not a single one of 

 all these could we have obtained without the 

 aid of our dog, who was quite invaluable in 

 driving them from cover into more open 

 ground. Tliis bird nested here in 1885, and 

 again this year, and piobably did in '86, as we 

 did not frequent their haunts much about that 

 time, and very probably overlooked so skulking 

 a bird. 



The spring migration had few features of in- 

 terest about it except in individual captures, 

 two points, however, deserve noting. First, 

 Blackpoll Warblers, usually when here our 

 commonest migrant, were quite scarce, only 

 three being observed ; and secondly, the cedar 

 birds failed, for the first time in six years, to 

 come and eat up the mulberries, only two of 

 these being seen, instead of the hundreds of 

 former years. 



Some ot our more noteworthy captures were 

 Osprey (April 13), two Bitterns (April 2 and 

 2;{),Prothonotary Warbler (April 18), Bartram- 

 rian Sandpiper (April 27 and 29), a male Rose- 

 breasted Grosbeak, our third specimen, (April 

 28), BickneU's Thrush (May 5). Kentucky War- 

 bler (May 9), the BickneU's Thrush and Pro- 

 thonotary Warbler, being both new species to 

 us. The season on the whole has been a fav- 

 orable one, though nothing at all extraordinary 

 in the way of captures. 



Eggs of Dendroeca chrysoparia. 



BY .1. r. N. 



The eggs of the Golden-cheeked Warbler 

 {Dendrwca chrysojKirki) are extremely rare. 

 'I'he bird itself is very rare, and only occurs in 

 a limited range. Mr. Ridgway, in his recently 

 iniblished Mannal of North American Birds, 

 gives its habitat as "Central Texas, and south 

 to highlands of Guatemala," but the only speci- 

 mens which the writer has seen were shot in 

 Comal County, Texas, by Mr. G. B. Benners. 

 The latter gentleman is of the opinion that the 

 bird is appaiently confined to an area of about 



ten miles square in that County, which he de- 

 scribes as being ''very sterile and barren, and 

 the only trees are stunted live oaks and red 

 cedars." During Mr. Benners' visit to that 

 locality in 1884, only a few of the birds were 

 seen and shot, although his companions and 

 himself often went in seai'ch of them. 



The nests, of which three were found, were 

 all built in red cedar trees a few feet from the 

 ground. In one case the height was ten feet, 

 and in another onlj^ five. One of these nests is 

 described by Mr. Benners as having been 

 "about half way out on a branch, and was 

 composed of strips of the bark of the cedar 

 tree, lined with feathers and down. It was 

 very neatly and compactly built, and measured 

 two and a half inches in diameter on the out- 

 side, by two inches in depth. The outside di- 

 ameter was one and a half inches.*' 



Subsequently a few more nests were found in 

 the same part of Comal County by another col- 

 lector, and it has been my good fortune to 

 secure three of them. 



Set I. Creamy white, speckled and spotted 

 with light reddish brown and lilac. The mark- 

 ings are heavier and closer together near the 

 larger ands : .65x.52; .63x.51; .65x.51; .64 x 

 ..51. 



Set II. Creamy white, with a slight gloss. 

 Speckled and spotted with a lighter shade of 

 reddish brown than Set I, and with less lilac. 

 In two of the eggs the markings form indistinct 

 wreaths around the larger ends, and in the 

 other two the specks are larger near the larger 

 ends: .61x.51; .64x.50; .62x.51; .66 x .50. 



Set III. Creamy white, spotted and speckled 

 with darker reddish brown than either Sets I or 

 II have, and also with lilac. The markings 

 form distinct wreaths near the larger ends, and 

 the spots are more prominent; taken all togeth- 

 er they are by far the handsomest set of the 

 three: .68x.52; .68x.52; .67x.49; .67 x .50. 



Something New About the Flight 

 of Birds. 



BY C. C. TROWBRIDGE, NEW HAVEN, CONN. 



Hoping that it may prove of inteiest to the 

 readers of the Ornithologist and Oologist 

 I wish to call attention to a discovery I have 

 made in regard to theeraarginate cutting of the 

 primaries of some of our birds. I speak of this 

 as a discovery, as I can find no reference in any 

 work of Ornithology to the fact I am about to 

 describe. 



