14 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 6-No. 2. 



Maksh Ham'e:. C Circus hudsonius) A 

 Large Set of Eggs. — I quote from a letter 

 from an ornithological friend in Dunnville, 

 Ont., he having kindly given me permission 

 to do so. 



"I was told of the nest by a farm labor- 

 er, who in going across the fields daily to 

 his work, discovered it in a swale out in a 

 meadow, but near a wood. When first 

 found it contained only three eggs, but at 

 the end of another week it had six. Some 

 days after this, I cannot say now just how 

 long, when I visited it there were four 

 young birds and three eggs, one of the lat- 

 ter chipi^ed, one half inciibated and the 

 third but slightly so. Of the birds, one 

 was a good sized fellow able to stand up 

 while the others were not so strong. The 

 nest was in an open space in the high 

 weeds or rushes near a bush, and was com- 

 posed of small sticks and grasses quite 

 flattened and tramped down. The man 

 told me that he had never seen but the one 

 pair of birds about the nest, and he saw 

 them every day he went to his work. I 

 took them on the 14th of June 1880. This 

 is about all I can tell you concerning them." 



Some time ago I noticed in the Oologist 

 one of its correspondents writing of tind- 

 ing a set of eggs, one of which was very 

 small. I do not think this occurrence is 

 at all Tinusual. At present I have a set of 

 three eggs of the common Crow, two of 

 which are larger than the average, while 

 the third is very small. One can get a 

 good idea of their size from these meas- 

 urements: 1.98 X 1.19 inches. 1.90 x 1.18 

 inches, .91 x .72 inches. I have also no- 

 ticed this peculiarity in the Downy Wood- 

 peckers, Robins and Black Duck's eggs, 

 and I have no doubt that it occurs with 

 the eggs of almost every species. 



S. F. Eathbun, Auburn, N. Y. 



Catching a Tabtae. — A gentleman resid- 

 ing in Greenville, R. I., about eight miles 

 northwest of Providence, on Saturday last 

 brought in a male of the Little Black-head 

 Duck {Fulix ajinis) which' he had caught 



in his meadow. He stated that he saw it 

 first flying as though very tired and alight- 

 ing in the meadow. He gave chase. It 

 flew short distances at a time and he final- 

 ly captured it. The bird had captured a 

 mxissel and was at the same time a captive, 

 for the mussel was a trifle too large for the 

 duck to swallow, and moreover the duck 

 was trying to get it down the hinged end 

 first. It had shut itself on the bird's 

 tongue, near the throat, in such a way 

 that the latter could not crush it. On dis- 

 section no food was found in the duck's 

 stomach, and it had apparently been wan- 

 dering about for some time. I had not 

 heard of their visiting any fresh ponds, 

 being confined to the sea-board. It prob- 

 ably , while in such a predicament flew 

 hither and thither without regard to direc- 

 tion. The party had it mounted with mus- 

 sel in its mouth as found. F. T. Jencks. 



[After receiving the above we called at 

 the store of Southwick & Jencks and saw 

 the duck in question. The mussel was 

 firmly fixed in the throat, foi'cing the bill 

 open about one and one quarter inches. Ed.] 



Bank Swallows Utilized. — Mr. John H. 

 Sage of Portland, Conn.; states that there 

 are large quantities of the above birds 

 breeding in the banks of the extensive 

 Brown stone quarries at that place. The 

 birds are protected by the men, they be- 

 lieving that they destroy large num- 

 bers of insects that would annoy them 

 while at work were the Swallows not there. 



Richardson's Owl. — About the middle of 

 December 1880, an owl was brought to a 

 taxidermist in this city, by a young lady, 

 to be stuffed, but the taxidermist seeing 

 that it was not a common species, per- 

 suaded her to take a Cedar bird instead. 

 The owl, on examination proved to be 

 Nyctale tengmalmi, var Richardsom^ 

 {Bonap) and is the first, I believe that has 

 been taken in the state, though Dr. Elliott 

 Coues gives an instance of one being shot 

 in Connecticut. The bird is now at the 

 Brown University. 



