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THE OOLOGIST 



in the vicinity of the nest from the 

 time they left the nest until they dis- 

 appeared I rarely finding them more 

 than fifty feet from the site. 



The second pair was obesrved first 

 gathering nesting material on the 15th 

 and carrying it to a clump of bitter- 

 sweets about fifty yards from the site 

 of the deserted nest of the former 

 pair and on the 19th the nest was 

 found complete and contained a set 

 of four eggs. The incubation of this 

 set was performed jointly by both par- 

 ents, the female, however, devoting 

 about three quarters of the twelve 

 days, the period of incubation. In 

 the first brood the male brought one- 

 half of the food to the nestlings where- 

 as in the case of the second brood the 

 male made on an average of one visit 

 to the nest to eight of the female and 

 after eight days had elapsed rarely if 

 ever visited the nest and the female 

 provided the youngsters with the food. 

 This brood remained in the nest two 

 days longer than the others, or a per- 

 iod of thirteen days. 



After leaving the nest the young re- 

 mained about the homesite for five 

 days and then were to be found daily 

 along the edge of the pond with the 

 female until the 14th of August when 

 they all disappeared. One of the young 

 of this brood developed numerous in- 

 dications of albinism as it grew and 

 when the family left the neighborhood 

 this specimen had a number of white 

 feathers on the back and underparts. 



The female of this latter brood had 

 considerable trouble with her neigh- 

 bors the Yellowthroats and was found 

 in frequent noisy conflicts with both 

 of the adult Yellowthroats. 



The eggs of these two broods aver- 

 aged .74 x .54, and the set of five had 

 one egg which measured .77 x .48. This 

 latter egg was considerably lighter in 

 color than the others and was the 

 first to hatch. 



My observations for the past fifteen 

 years have proven the average date of 

 arrival of this species in this section 

 of New Jersey as May 15th and its 

 average departure August 28th. The 

 earliest one to arrive was on May 7th, 

 1906 when five adult males put into 

 appearance during the early morning, 

 and the latest departure was on Sept. 

 7th, 1912 when one adult male was 

 found at Bloomingdale about one mile 

 to the west of Haskell. 



Louis S. Kohler. 



Warble Copy. 

 Since THE OOLOGIST has come 

 under the present management, we 

 have always aimed to give the June 

 issue over exclusively to the Warbler 

 family. No doubt this is the intention 

 of the Editor for the present year, and 

 he would appreciate it if the subscrib- 

 ers and readers would help to make 

 it an interesting number by sending 

 in Warbler copy. Our readers will be 

 glad to read what YOU have observed 

 regarding these dainty little songsters. 



The Yellow-Nosed Albatross. 



(Thalassageron culminatus). 

 The Albatross is a deep-sea sailor of 

 the highest order. With the skill of a 

 master mariner he can "steer by the 

 wind" or "run before it," as the case 

 may be; he can "wear ship" or "tack 

 her" as gracefully as any deep-sea 

 captain ever swung around his "three 

 sky-sail-yarder." In fact, if one watches 

 his maneuvers in the air and compares 

 the different parts of the bird's body 

 with the different parts of a ship's rig- 

 ring, allowing his long bill for the jib- 

 boom, his head and graceful neck for 

 the jibs, his wings for the main-yards, 

 and his tail for the spanker, the ob- 

 server will readily admit that the Al- 

 batross knows in his own way, as well 

 as any sailor, the significance of the 

 nautical terms "rise tacks, sheets' ana 

 "mainsail-haul". 



