330 



THE OOLOGIST 



sions we saw little flocks of five and 

 six of the Pine Siskin. Juncos were 

 abundant and we found several nests. 



My friends the Warblers, were plen- 

 tiful and I spent lots of time with 

 them. Back in there, the Yellow was 

 entirely absent, but in the forest, the 

 Parula, Black throated Blue, and Black 

 throated Green, Magnolia, Oven-bird, 

 Redstart, Hooded, Canadian and Black- 

 burnian were all more or less plen- 

 tiful. The Black and White was there, 

 but was scarce. Along the streams we 

 met a few Water-thrushes. In the 

 slashings, three warblers were com- 

 mon: the Yellow-throated, Mourning 

 and Chestnut-sided. These three we 

 never met in the deep woods. 



I found nests of all the warblers ex- 

 cept the Water-thrush and Blackbur- 

 nian. A pair of House Wrens nested 

 in the ruins of the old mill and I found 

 three nests of young Winter wrens 

 while fishing. 



The old boiler had been left at the 

 mill and about twenty feet of stack 

 still stood. In this stack I got a set 

 of Chimney Swift. Also saw a Swift's 

 nest inside an old camp. Both the 

 Creeper and Red-bellied Nuthatch were 

 found in the timber and probably nest- 

 ing. Thrushes were plentiful — Wood, 

 Wilson's, Hermit and Olive-backed. 



Altogether it was a very enjoyable 

 vacation. 



I have not been over there for a few 

 years now, but the conditions are no 

 doubt much the same except that a 

 good bit of the timber has since been 

 taken out. There are other places 

 near here at present where the condi- 

 tions and inhabitants (Mammals and 

 birds) are about the same, but the big 

 tracts of timber are disappearing and 

 a wilderness of briars and second 

 growth are taking their place and the 

 time is not far off when the big tracts 

 of giant hemlock, maple, beech, etc., 



will be a thing of the past in Pennsyl- 

 vania. R. B. Simpson. 

 Warren, Pa. 



Large Sets of Robin Eggs. 



In a recent number of The Oologist, 

 I promised to chronicle my experience 

 with large sets of our plebian Robin, 

 and as "things promised are things 

 due," it behooves me to keep my word. 



The Robin is generally supposed to 

 lay from three to five eggs, and accord- 

 ing to most ornithological writers it 

 does, but during a long oological ex- 

 perience in which I have examined al- 

 most a thousand occupied Robins' 

 nests, I have found sets of five eggs to 

 be of exceeding rarity, as I have only 

 six records of nests containing five 

 eggs or young, or over, which is a 

 very small ratio in proportion to the 

 large numbers of nests examined. It 

 will then be seen that I do not exag- 

 gerate when I assert that sets of five 

 eggs, or over, are of decidedly rare oc- 

 currence, in Southeastern Pennsyl- 

 vania and South Jersey, at least. 



There have been published a few ac- 

 counts of sets of five Robin's eggs, as 

 well as one set of seven, by different 

 collectors in The Oologist, of both the 

 eastern and western birds, and most 

 of the writers agree that such sets 

 are of exceedingly rarity. 



Davie says, "the typical set of eggs 

 is four, rarely five,'' but in my exper- 

 ience, sets of three eggs are almost 

 as common as four and often only two 

 eggs constitute a complement in sec- 

 ond and later clutches." Dr. Coues, in 

 his "Avifauna Columbiana" says: "The 

 eggs are 4-6 in number," and he is the 

 only ornithologist whom I can remem- 

 ber crediting the Robin as laying over 

 five eggs. 



A writer in the defunct Museum 

 (Vol. I No. 1, 1894, p. 6) says, "in a 

 rather active collecting experience 

 now extending back for fifteen years," 



