THE OOLOGIST 



856 



beaks. Harry Williams, proprietor of 

 the Lafayette Hotel, Niagara Falls, 

 Ontario, also has two finely mounted 

 specimens, which were shot twenty- 

 one years ago. Those interested can 

 see them in the collection of the Buf- 

 falo Society of Natural Sciences, or in 

 mine. 



Ottomar Reinecke. 

 Buffalo, N. Y. 



An Abnormal Towhee's Egg. 



On June 18, 1911 while making orni- 

 thological observations on Crow Hill, 

 Montclair Heights, N. J., I found a 

 nest of the Towhee (Phipilio erythro- 

 phthalmus) on the ground underneath 

 a clump of laurels containing four eggs 

 well incubated. Three of these eggs 

 were normal in size, shape and ap- 

 pearance, while the fourth was devoid 

 of all markings but retained the pink- 

 ish-white ground color of the others. 

 In addition to being clear of markings, 

 it was considerably larger than the 

 others as will be seen by the follow- 

 ing measurements taken by the writer 

 on that date: .90x.72; .92x.74; .88 

 x .71 and 1.01 x .78. 



On the 9th of July I again visited 

 this nest for the purpose of placing 

 bands on the nestlings, but found that 

 it had apparently been pillaged by 

 some animal as many feathers and 

 pieces of bones were strewn about 

 and the nest was torn apart. 



Two other nests within one hundred 

 feet of this, which contained nestlings 

 on the 18th of June, were found de- 

 serted as was expected. About these 

 were no evildences of raids by cats or 

 other animals as was the case in the 

 first instance. 



Louis S. Kohler. 

 Bloomfield, N. J., 

 Dec. 18, 1911. 



Notes on the White-breasted Nuthatch 

 The Nuthatch, although by no means 

 a rare bird, is seldom seen except by 

 those who are acquainted with its 

 haunts, on account of its shy and re- 

 tiring habits. It greatly resembles 

 the Brown Creeper and the Black and 

 White Warbler, although its call is a 

 great contrast to those two birds. Its 

 call as represented by Reed is a nazal 

 yank, yank, and a repeated ya, ya, all 

 in one tone; and it often mystifies one 

 as to the concealment of the bird it- 

 self. 



On November 24, 1911, I was at- 

 tracted by the queer call of a White- 

 breasted Nuthatch, which came as I 

 thought from a nearby tree, but on 

 coming nearer, I was surprised to hear 

 the call repeated in another direction. 

 At last, however, I saw him as he 

 flirted around the trunk of a large 

 tree, pecking the bark as he jumped, 

 and sending a shower of chips flying 

 to the ground. Remaining quite still 

 I was rewarded by seeing it reappear 

 around the trunk, uttering its queer 

 call again. As I watched I saw it 

 grasp firmly with its strong claws, and 

 swinging its whole body upon its feet 

 it would peck away at the bark, with 

 the full weight and sway of its body. 

 In my desire to obtain a better view, 

 it became frightened, and falling away 

 from the trunk it darted over the snow 

 to another tree. I started to follow, 

 but it soon flew again and I lost sight 

 of it. 



I would like to mention that I re- 

 cently received the egg of the Sen- 

 nett Nighthawk. Mr. C. McKnight of 

 Regina, Canada, found two of these 

 rare eggs on the Plains of Saskatche- 

 wan, one of which was accidentally 

 broken, the other I now have in my 

 collection. 



Paul G. Burgess. 



