40 



THE OOIXXHST 



beg the consideration of our readers 

 if THE OOLOGIST is not quite up to 

 standard.— R. M. Barnes. 



Two Remarkable Runt Sets. 



Bobolink, five eggs, measuring .65 x 

 .47, .47 x .37, .48 x .39, .49 x .40, .51 x .40, 

 inches. 



Red-winged Blackbird, five eggs, 

 measuring .55 x .46, .56 x .46, .57 x .47, 

 .50x.49, 1.00 x. 66 inches. 



Both sets were collected in June 

 1914, in Benson Co., N. Dakota. The 

 nests were in the same meadow and 

 not more than seventy yards apart. A 

 single runt in a set, is of course a not 

 uncommon occurrence, but if anyone 

 has ever recorded a set to equal these 

 of mine, the record has escaped my 

 notice. 



The Red-wing nest when found con- 

 tained two of the runts. The other 

 two were the next deposited, the nor- 

 mal egg being the last. None of the 

 runts in this set contained any yolk 

 and three of them show much rough 

 shell surface. All are normal in 

 color. 



The Bobolink nest when found con- 

 tained three eggs, one of them being 

 the larger egg, which is of course, it- 

 self a runt. Each egg in this set con- 

 tained some yolk, and all are normal in 

 color and shell texture. 



Fred Maltby. 

 Kansas City, Mo. 



Suggestion for Martin Houses. 



Martin lovers who have had their 

 flocks of chattering Martins driven 

 away by the Starling have read with 

 interest a noteworthy contribution to 

 Martin house building by Charles H. 

 Townsend, Green Farms, Conn., in the 

 September-October number of Bird 

 Lore. 



A way has been discovered to keep 

 the Starling out of our Martin boxes. 

 Mr. Townsend writes as follows: "In 



this region, the holes of Martin 

 houses must be large enough to let 

 Martins in and keep Starlings out; 

 but the Martins will not enter a one- 

 and-seven-eighths inch hole unless 

 there is a half-inch hole just above 

 it to let in the light. The Martin's 

 body in the small entrance makes the 

 compartment dark, and the bird seems 

 afraid to enter. After the half-inch 

 windows were bored, they entered 

 freely." 



The old question as to proper color 

 for painting Martin boxes bobs up 

 every once in awhile. White is the 

 best color because it is the coolest 

 color, reflecting more of the sun's heat 

 than any other color. Heat is very 

 fatal to the young fledglings and is 

 largely responsible for the many dead 

 bodies that we remove every fall from 

 the deserted bird houses. Then again, 

 white as we noted in one of our 

 articles on this subject in Bird Lore, 

 seems to harmorize with the nature of 

 these birds. White is the avain anti- 

 thesis of red. A gentleman this sum- 

 mer told us about painting his bird 

 house red and how the Martins shun- 

 ned the place like a house of death. 



To those about to build something 

 up-to-date in the Martin house line 

 we refer to the excellent article by 

 Ned Deaborn, "Bird Houses and How 

 to Build Them," TJ. S. Department of 

 Agriculture, Farmer's Bulletin, No. 

 609. 



Martin lovers have missed a real 

 treat who have not read the article 

 upon Colonizing the Purple Martin, by 

 J. P. Reiff, in the National Sportsman, 

 January, 1914. 



Thos. L. McConnell. 



Copy. 

 We are out of short newsy notes 

 of two to ten lines each. Send in 

 some even if you write it on a postal 

 card. It is the short pithy items that 

 we want. — Editor. 



