24 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 6-No. 3. 



evidence of more eggs having been laid, 

 the eggs were lying with the small ends 

 resting in the center, The center of the 

 nest being dee}) the eggs had the apjiear- 

 ance of standing upon their small end, the 

 large ends jDointing slightly toward the 

 margin of the nest. Being tender hearted 

 (then) he only took one egg and visited the 

 nest very often afterward. The birds were 

 extremely shy and with the utmost stealth 

 he could not approach the vicinity of the 

 nest without the parent taking flight and 

 settling down some distance away, appear- 

 ing nervously anxious, piping continuously 

 and endeavoring to draw his attention 

 from the nest. The eggs differ slightly 

 from those described by Dr. Brewer, being 

 shorter and the spots partially confluent, a 

 few of these decided "blotches." 



Winter Wren. — Mr. Banks found on 

 June 17th, 1879, the nest of a Winter 

 Wren with the parent on it. It was par- 

 tially concealed by a windfall, being placed 

 just where the moss on the tree and the 

 grass met. It was composed entirely of 

 dried pine "needles," loosely laid together 

 and resting against the moss and grass. 

 There were 4 eggs in the nest, apparently 

 but newly laid. 



Robin's Nest Pensile. — On May 15th, 

 1880, Mr. Banks discovered a Robin's nest 

 partially pensile. The back of the nest 

 leaned against the limb of a tree, and 

 pieces of grass were woven into the nest 

 and over the limb. 



Robin's Nest with water. — Mr. James 

 Morrison of this city, found a Robin's nest 

 last spring with a quantity of water in it. 

 It was mid-day and there had been no rain 

 the night previous, nor for several days 

 before. When first observed the female 

 was inside putting in the mud lining. On 

 visiting the nest next day the dry grass 

 lining had been put in and the bottom of 

 the nest was very wet. 



Solitary Sandpiper. — Mr. Harold Gil- 

 bert, one of our best informed embryo 

 ornithologists, while shooting at Hampton 

 last fall flushed a Solitary Sandpiper, which 



flew a short distance and on to the branch 

 of a dead tree. Never having seen such 

 performance before, he called for an encore 

 and three successive times this bird went 

 through this same unorthodox maneuver. 

 May this not have been the Green Sand- 

 piper we read about ? 



M. Chamberlain, Saint John, N. B. 



Recent Publications. 



"Illustrations of Nests and Eggs." The 

 next work in order is by Ernest Ingersoll, 

 entitled "A History of the Nests and Eggs 

 of American Birds," which is sold at the 

 low price of fifty cents j^er number. Each 

 number contains twenty-four pages, and 

 two plates, and is printed on good paper. 

 It is in Royal 8vo. form, a very convenient 

 size for the student. In the circular sent 

 out two letters are given, one from Dr. 

 Elliott Coues, and one from J. A. Allen. 

 Both of these letters should be read with 

 care. There are endorsements from the 

 ^^Philadelphia Sunday Post," and '•'•New York 

 Evening Pos«, also ''New York Tribtme.''' What 

 the Editors of these papers know about 

 nests and eggs we are not even prepared 

 to hazard a guess. We believe Mr. Inger- 

 soll published this work before he was 

 fully prepared, fearing some one else wr,uld 

 occupy the field. Mr. Ingersoll^ uses a 

 facile pen and is thoroughly able to please 

 as a magazine writer where the ability to 

 please is of more consequence than scien- 

 tific accuracy. The plates in this work are 

 entirely worthless for all practical pur- 

 poses. We doubt if Mr. Ingersoll could 

 identify his own plates, much less the eggs 

 they pretend to represent. There is con- 

 siderable valuable matter in the work 

 which will be found between quotation 

 marks and some where the quotation maiks 

 seem to have been forgotten. As a work 

 it had much better never have been pub- 

 lished, and its publisher displayed good 

 judgment in disposing of it. We hope 

 the purchaser will not continue it until he 

 can fully realize the magnitude of his un- 

 dertaking. 



