144 



THE OOLOGIST. 



rods of each other, the fourth in a mea- 

 dow quite a distance from the first 

 three. 



Perhaps a description of these "finds" 

 might be of interest. 



Set No. 1, was taken in June 1888, 

 and contained five fresh eggs. Ground 

 color, light greenish, uniformly mottled 

 over the entire surface with light cho- 

 colate brown. Average measurements 

 .84 x .60. The nest was a hollow in the 

 ground, lined with fine grass. 



Set No. 2, found March 19, 1890, con- 

 tained two eggs and as no more were 

 laid, the two were taken March 24th. 

 The ground was covered with snow at 

 the time, to a depth of three inches. 

 The parent bird sat close and fallowed 

 the writer to walk in a circle around 

 her till within six feet of the nest, be- 

 fore rising. One of the eggs was mark- 

 ed similar to those in set No. 1, but 

 darker, the other was wholly different 

 in coloration, having the marking col- 

 lected in a dark greenish- brown wreath 

 around the lai'ger end, leaving the 

 grayish white back ground clear at 

 both extremities of the egg. The speci- 

 mens measure .84 x .65, and .84 x .63 

 respectively. The nest was a hollow 

 in a bunch of sod, lined with dried 

 grass, and contained a few tufts of 

 thistle-down. 



Set No. 3, taken March 31, 1891 num- 

 bered four fresh eggs nearly uniform in 

 size and coloring. Each has the mark- 

 ings arranged in a confluent circle of 

 dark sage-green around the larger end, 

 the remainder of the egg being sparsly 

 sprinkled with brownish drab. The 

 specimens in this set are unusually 

 elongated, as the following measure- 

 ments will show: 1 x .62, .94 x .62, .94 

 x.63 and .94 x .62. The nest was com- 

 pactly built of dried grass stems, and 

 rootlets, lined on the bottom with this- 

 tle-down, the rim of the nest rising two 

 inches above the gi*ound. 



Nest No. 4, was found while rolling 

 a meadow April 15, 1892. It was com- 



posed of dried grass and was lined with 

 — five young birds just in the down. I 

 should have been much better pleased 

 to have found five eggs, but the old 

 bird had the "drop" on me this time, 

 so J turned out and left the downy ol- 

 ive branches unmolested. 



I came upon all of these nests ac- 

 cidentally. I don't know how it is . 

 with other collectors but it is almost 

 invariably "just my luck," never to find 

 a nest when I am looking for it. 



' 'Straggler" 

 Medina,N. Y. 



Plumage. 



Among the many subjects discussed 

 through the columns of the Oologist, 

 wide and varied as has been the range, 

 I have never yet seen reference to the 

 construction and characteristics of 

 plumage as a whole, regardless of spe- 

 cies. One contributor has remarked — 

 "Let us first study bones and muscles 

 and then feathers. " To the anatomist 

 this certainly is logic, but from an or- 

 nithological stand point the plumage 

 appears to demand priority. Reader 

 did you ever stop to consider the com- 

 bination of beauty lightness, and 

 strength displayed by a feather, not 

 necessarily the gem from the ruby gor- 

 get of a Hummer, not the plume worth 

 its weight in gold from the wings of the 

 mammoth among birds, but an ordi- 

 nary secondary, from the wing of, pos- 

 sibly, the most homely, or perhaps 

 more properly, the leist beautiful of 

 all the birds. 



First we have the quill, which is a 

 semi-transparent horny tube, contain- 

 ing in its cavity a series of tissue cap- 

 sules, united by a central pedicle. At 

 its lower extremity is the orifice, 

 through which the feather draws its 

 sustaining fluids from the body. 



A continuation of the quill is the shaft, 

 convex on the back, and presenting a 

 longitudinal groove beneath. A 



