16 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 6-No. 2 



Great Horned Owl's Eggs. — Mr. W. W. 

 Coe of Portland, Conn., lias again taken a 

 pair of eggs from his "Old Owls." They 

 were taken this year on March 8th. This 

 is the seventh or eighth successive year 

 that this pair of birds have yielded tribute 

 to Mr. Coe. Dr. Wm. Wood states that 

 lie once took five eggs at one time and 

 from the same nest. It would be interest- 

 ing to know if these eggs were all laid by 

 one female. 



An Egg Within an Egg. — I would like to 

 know whether any of your readers have 

 met with a case in the formation of eggs 

 similar to the following, for as far as my 

 experience goes, it is decidedly unique. A 

 friend of mine while breakfasting on some 

 duck's eggs, opened an unusually large one 

 and found within it a second egg with a 

 perfect shell, similar in color and thickness 

 to the outer one. He brought it to me 

 and it is now in my collection. It is almost 

 globular and about an inch in diameter ; 

 it contained a yolk with surrounding albu- 

 men, but I could not say as to the germ 

 for it was boiled hard. 



G. A. McCallum, Ontario. 



Recent Publications. 



"Illustrations of Nests and Eggs." The 

 Oologists of North America have now be- 

 fore them three works on the Nests and 

 Eggs of the birds of North America, all 

 claiming their patronage. As there are 

 few of our readers that will be enabled to 

 examine all three, it might be well lor us 

 to give a little of our experience, as well as 

 our opinion, of the three works in ques- 

 tion. We have no interest in any of them, 

 have purchased two of them, and seen a 

 sample copy of the third. We have before 

 us seven numbers of the "Illustrations of 

 the Nests and Eggs of the Birds of Ohio," 

 and have examined them thoroughly, have 

 read them carefully. There is room for 

 slight criticism, but the artist is v/ell aware 

 of defects that the ordinary reader could 

 not detect and which will be remedied in 

 future numbers. It is published at five 



dollars per part. This will seem high to 

 many but it is well worth much more. The 

 book as a whole is simply superb. The 

 plates are so real, and artistically drawn, 

 and the text is a simple statement of 

 facts in plain English that must win all 

 readers, to all who can afford it we say 

 buy this work. It will always be worth 

 the subscription price. Dr. Coues endor- 

 ses it unreservedly, and to the extent of 

 its cost it is one of the finest works ever 

 published and devoted to Natural Science. 



Since the above was written we have re- 

 ceived number eight of the above work, 

 which contains the Cardinal Redbirds nest 

 and eggs. Warbling and Red eyed Vireo's 

 nests and eggs, also the nest and eggs 

 of the Carolina Dove, all of which are 

 finely executed. The text as usual is so 

 plain that a child can understand it. It 

 is a misfortune to the Science that the 

 above work is not better known so that a 

 larger colored edition would be circulated. 



"The Illinois State Laboratory of Natu- 

 ral history ; Bulletin, No. 3," containing 

 studies of the Food of Birds, Insects and 

 Fishes, made at the Illinois State Labora- 

 tory of Natural History at Normal, Illinois, 

 by S. A. Forbes. Sixty-nine pages of the 

 above work are devoted to an exceedingly 

 valuable article on "The Food of Birds," 

 which should be read by every ornitholo- 

 gist who can fairly claim to be a natural- 

 ist. They will there find much food for 

 thought. 



We are indebted to a modest friend 

 "away down East" for a valuable pamph- 

 let entitled, "Report of the Commissioners 

 of Fisheries and Game of the State of 

 Maine for 1880." This report contains 

 considerable information about the recently 

 imported "Messina Quail," which seems to 

 have bred quite freely during the year 

 1880. It states that "the eggs of the quail 

 are of a greenish color profusely blotched 

 with brown," but are said to fade quickly 

 when exposed to the light. For want of 

 room we shall forego making the extracts 

 we desire until some future time. 



