THE OOLOGIST i^irC^") . V^\^ 



91 



Wild Pigeon Eggs. 



Much has been said about the Pas- 

 senger Figecn, commonly called Wild 

 Pigeon. About eighteen months ago I 

 described a set that was collected by 

 L. Y. Mason for F. T. Pember of Gran- 

 ville, New York on May 3, 1878 and 

 contained two eggs. Now the conten- 

 tion among a lot of writers and "ob- 

 servers" is, that this Pigeon only lays 

 one egg. As I never saw one alive, 

 I cannot say from personal observa- 

 tion, but have been wondering if the 

 single birds and eggs seen in nests 

 were not what was left of a once full 

 set of two. Where such immense 

 flocks of birds perched amongst the 

 limbs and around the flimsy nests, 

 combined with the elements, it is a 

 wonder to me that either a single egg 

 or bird would be left in some nests. 

 And as all doves and pigeons lay two 

 eggs to a set, it looks reasonable to 

 believe that two eggs constitute a 

 set. 



Mr. Pember writes me that he has 

 seen many a nest with two eggs in It. 

 Wm. B. Crispin, Salem, N. J. 



Chestnut-sided Warbler. 

 (Dendroica pensilvanica) 



On the 2d of June, 1905, while tra- 

 versing one of the low hills at the 

 northern end of Passaic County, New 

 Jersey, and west of Greenwood Lake, 

 I located in a swamp huckleberry 

 bush the nest of a Chestnut-sided 

 Warbler, (Dendroica pensilvanica) 

 containing a single egg. 



It was cradled on a terminal branch 

 of the bush about flve feet from the 

 ground and was so well concealed 

 among the leaves as to be almost in- 

 visible except upon close scrutiny. 



The nest was composed of strips 

 of bark, coarse grasses and plant 

 fibers, and was lined with plant down, 

 fine grass and few horse hairs. The 



single egg was clear white speckled 

 with reddish-brown and chestnut es- 

 pecially at the larger end where the 

 spots formed a wreath which encircled 

 the egg. 



Being located in the neighborhood 

 during the whole month of June that 

 year, I determined immediately to 

 make daily observations of this nest 

 and below are some of the things 

 which I learned regarding the birds* 

 habits while incubating and their 

 methods of feeding and caring for 

 their young. 



The female was on the nest when 

 discovered and the male about fifty 

 feet off among the undergrowth sing- 

 ing his ecstatic melcdies in his bright- 

 .est vein. 



On the second, third, fifth and sixth 

 days after the discovery of this nest, 

 eggs were deposited and were care- 

 fully protected by the female almost 

 wholly during the incubating period. 

 The male was found on the nest on 

 the seventh and tenth days after the 

 last egg was laid and at other times 

 busily engaged in searching the shrub- 

 bery in the neighborhood for insects 

 and worms which he carried to his 

 little mate at intervals ranging from 

 five to twelve minutes during the per- 

 iods cf observations. 



On the 18th of June three of the 

 eggs hatched and on the 19th the other 

 two broke through shells. Both par- 

 ents began immediately after the last 

 chick was out to provide subsistence 

 for their offspring and during the first 

 two days it was rare when one or the 

 other was not at the nest side with 

 some morsel of food for the young. 

 On the 3d and 4th days, the male's 

 ardor had much abated and he only 

 visited the nest about every fifteen 

 minutes and on the sixth day did not 

 come near the nest at all but remain- 

 ed about a hundred feet off in the un- 

 dergrowth. 



