THE OOLOGIST. 



131 



were other duties to attend to at home 

 and he made good his time in searching 

 for food. 



A Kingbird held watch over the 

 rushes bordering the woods where the 

 nest was placed. I knew that he made 

 life miserable for all the big birds that 

 came that way, but supposed he had 

 become so accustomed to this Least 

 Bittern as to let go unnoticed so mod- 

 est a bird. We were fishing outside 

 the weeds one drowsy day, when the 

 Bittern came by with the Kingbird 

 close on his trail. Not content with 

 merely snapping at him he alighted 

 upon his back. The weight of the two 

 birds was so near alike that the Bittern 

 was borne nearly to the water, where- 

 upon the Kingbird left him, but only to 

 repeat the proceeding when the Bittern 

 was well under way. The only protes- 

 tation on the part of the persecuted 

 bird was a feeble croaking barely audi- 

 ble to me. 



I visited this Bittern's nest when the 

 young were out. I found them to be 

 exceedingly bright eyed birds covered 

 with a yellowish- white down. They 

 did not hold the bill straight up when 

 they saw me, but looked quite Heron- 

 like. As they exhibited a tendency, at 

 my presence, to crawl out of the nest 

 into the adjacent rushes I left them 

 without going nearer than to get a good 

 sight. 



This was the last I saw of this family 

 of birds. They probably soon left for 

 those more marshy spots where lily- 

 pads and wild rice and flags grow thick- 

 ly and where the 7 are better able to 

 find the leeches, water insects, and the 

 similar food on which they live. 



H. M. Guilford, 

 Minneapolis, Minn. 



Albino Eggs of the Bluebird. 



Having read several times of the find- 

 ing of Albino eggs of Sialia sialis, I 

 have always made it a point to notice 



the color of all Bluebird eggs which I 

 might find in the hope of finding a set 

 of white ones. 



After examing a great many nests I 

 was at last rewarded in the spring of 

 '94 by finding two sets of perfectly 

 white eggs. About the first of May I 

 noticed a pair of Bluebirds caiTying 

 material for a nest into a deserted 

 Woodpecker's excavation, but as it was 

 situated about 25 feet from the ground 

 and in a rather rough barked maple 

 tree, I did not take the trouble to climb 

 up to it. 



One brood was raised here in safety, 

 but fortunately for me they concluded 

 to change quarters. 



On the 8th of June I saw the pair 

 building a new nest in an old paint 

 bucket, hung on the broken limb of a 

 crab apnle tree, about 50 feet from the 

 house. I often looked into this nest 

 when passing and on the morning of 

 the 13th was very much surprised to 

 see a pure white egg in the nest. 



After this I looked at the nest oftener, 

 if possible than before. The remain- 

 ing eggs of the set were deposited on 

 the following dates, 14th, 15th, 17th, 

 and 19th. 



No more eggs being deposited, on 

 the 21st I took the set of five. 



Not to be driven away in this man- 

 ner the pair at once began building a 

 new nest in another paint pail about 18 

 inches from the first. 



I was now careful not to disturb 

 them, wanting to see whether the sec- 

 ond set would be like the first or of 

 normal coloration. 



On the 27th the first egg of the sec- 

 ond set was laid, and to my great joy it 

 was also white. This time I did not 

 disturb them any until July 5th, when 

 I took the second set of four eggs. 



This time the old birds did not build 

 again but joined the first brood and 

 after remaining in the neighborhood 

 about two weeks disappeared; 



