THE OOLOGIST 



189 



t'ornia, two sets of Frazar's Oystei'- 

 catclier. One contained three eggs 

 and the other two. As he collected 

 the parent birds, there is no doubt 

 about the identity. 



The first set was taken March 26th, 

 1909, near LaPaz, Lower California. 

 The eggs were heavily incubated. The 

 nest was a depression in the gravel 

 on a jagged and surf washed ledge. 

 It was out of reach of the surf, but 

 the spray no doubt dampened it in 

 rough weather." 



The second set was "a depression 

 in the sand. The eggs were laid on 

 the bare ground, there being no lin- 

 ing to the nest whatever. It was eigh- 

 ty feet from the surf." This nest was 

 taken near LaPaz, March 24, 1909, and 

 contained two eggs nearly incubated. 

 .John E. Thayer. 



CURIOSITIES OF BIRD-NESTING. 



An authority says: "It is not at all 

 an uncommon thing to find the first 

 and sometimes second egg of a young 

 bird abnormally small, but I came 

 across a case some few years ago 

 which was quite unique. In April, 1901, 

 I was hunting for a few clutches of 

 the carrion crow in some small woods, 

 which were their favorite nesting 

 places in that district. I walked right 

 through the first wood without suc- 

 cess, but on leaving it I saw, perched 

 on a tree some distance away, two 

 crows. Guessing that I had disturbed 

 them and that they were watching me, 

 I walked on for some distance, still 

 keeping my eye on them. Sure enough, 

 as soon as they were satisfied that I 

 was leaving,, one of them made off 

 straight for a large oak tree at the 

 extreme end of the wood I had just 

 left. On returning I discovered the 

 nest and the reason I had missed it. 

 It was built out on the extreme end 

 of the lowest limb of the tree, within 



ten feet of the ground, and hidden by 

 the undergrowth below — a most un- 

 usual position. I climbed to the nest 

 and was much astonished at the con- 

 tents. In it were four minature crow's 

 eggs, very little larger than black- 

 bird's eggs, and in shape almost round. 

 On blowing them I found the shells 

 were abnormally thick and tough for 

 the size of the egg and they contained 

 no yolk. Knowing that crows invari- 

 ably remain in the same locality year 

 after year, the following season I 

 went to look for my friends again and 

 to my great delight found the nest in 

 a similar position in another oak tree 

 within 30 yards of the first nest. It 

 contained five eggs, four exact counter- 

 parts of the first clutch and one of 

 normal size, the only one to contain 

 any yelk. The following season I 

 found them for the third time again 

 quite close to the previous nests; this 

 time there were four eggs, only one 

 small one and three full size." — Clip- 

 ping. 



FROM THE ISLE OF PINES. 



The Isle of Pines Tanager (Spin- 

 dalis pretrei) Description: 



L. 6 in., w. 2.9, Tar., 8, b. 5.5. Male, 

 head black, a white stripe over eye, 

 also a white maxillary stripe below 

 which is a black line; throat, breast, 

 collar and upper tail coverts orange; 

 back olive-green with a tinge of or- 

 ange; bend of wing chestnut; wings 

 and tail black; the former with con- 

 siderable white on outer edges of 

 greater wing coverts and the secondar- 

 ies ; primaries with more or less white 

 on inner webs; outer pair of tail 

 feathers with large white patches 

 on inner webs; upper- mandible 

 blackish; lower mandible, legs and 

 feet bluish. 



Female slightly smaller; top of head 

 gray mixed with olive-green; grayish 

 stripe over eye and also an indistinct 



y 



