128 



THE OOLOGIST 



118. Sasolophus tricolor. Crested Tit- 

 mouse — Not a rare resident. 



119. Penthetes carolinensis. Caro- 

 lina Chickadee — Common resident. 



120. Polioptila caerulea. Blue-gray 

 Gnatcatcher. 



121. Hylocichla mustelina. Wood 

 Thrush — Common summer resident. 



122. Planesticus migratorius. Robin 

 — An abundant breeder. 



123. Sialia sialis. Bluebird — Com- 

 mon breeder. 



Cowbird's Eggs. 



I read with great interest Mr. Mil- 

 ler's article on Cowbird's Eggs in 

 the April "Oologist." I am sorry that 

 during the years I lived in the coun- 

 try, in Middlesex County, near Lon- 

 don, Ontario, that I did not keep a 

 census of the Cowbird's Eggs, and 

 the nests in which I found them. I 

 found them very plentiful in that dis- 

 trict, and have no hesitation in say- 

 ing that I found on an average at 

 least ten eggs per season for ten 

 seasons, and needless to say none of 

 those I found ever hatched. I was 

 never fortunate enough to find a nest 

 containing a young cowbird though. 



Although, as I have stated, I kept 

 no accurate record, I can remember 

 having found them in the following 

 bird's nests: Yellow Warbler, Chest- 

 nut-sided Warbler, Song Sparrow, 

 Vesper Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, 

 Warbling Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo, In- 

 digo Bunting, Wilson's Thrush, Wood 

 Thrush, Scarlet Tanager and Rose- 

 breasted Grosbeak. 



On looking over my data and notes 

 in connection with my collection of 

 bird's eggs, I find some items which 

 may be of interest to "Oologist" read- 

 ers, and which I herewith submit. 



During the month of June 1894, I 

 found five nests of the Indigo Bunt- 

 ing in a five-acre patch of wild rasp- 

 berry bushes, four of which contain- 



ed one egg each of the Cowbird, and 

 four eggs each of the Owner. The 

 other nest had five Buntings' eggs, 

 one of which was a runt, no larger 

 than a goldfinch's. 



June 5th, 1902, found a Scarlet Tan- 

 ager's nest on the horizontal limb 

 of a maple near the edge of the wood. 

 I had three eggs of the owner and 

 two cowbird's eggs. The latter I de- 

 stroyed. 



These are the only two cases in my 

 experience where more than one Cow- 

 bird's egg was found in a nest at the 

 same time. The only set of Chest- 

 nut-sided Warbler's I ever collected, 

 resulted in three Cowbirds being 

 "nipped in the bud." My notes read 

 as follows: 



May 14th, 1896.— Nest discovered 

 empty. 



May 16th — Nest contained one egg 

 of owner, and one Cowbird's egg 

 which I removed. 



May 18th — Nest contained two eggs 

 of the owner, and another Cowbird's 

 egg which I removed. 



May 22nd — Nest contained four 

 Warbler's eggs and another Cowbird's 

 egg. On this day I collected the set, 

 and still have the three Cowbird's 

 eggs in my cabinet. 



Have any of our readers had a sim- 

 ilar experience? It would be inter- 

 esting to know whether the same 

 Molothrus laid all three eggs. Here 

 is a large field open for some enthu- 

 siastic Oologist. Had I the oppor- 

 tunity again, I should certainly de- 

 vote more time to the study of this 

 miserable and destructive, but at the 

 same time very interesting parasite. 

 Toronto, Ont. J. R. McLeod. 



May 9th, 1914. 



The spring here at Lacon has been 

 unusually hot and dry, with the result 

 that many of the birds are nesting 

 earlier than common. 



