20 



THE OOLOGIST 



One set of three was about half in- 

 cubated so there could be little doubt 

 but that the complement v/as complete. 



Yellow-billed Cuckoo {Coccyzus amer- 

 icanus'), "Being somewhat nocturnal in 

 their habits, the notes of both our 

 Cuckoos are often heard at night."- O. 

 D. But he fails to note the nocturnal 

 disposition of the Yellow-breasted Chat 

 [Icteria virens) which sings tenfold 

 more in noctus in this locality than 

 does the Cuckoo. 



Belted Kingfisher {Ceryle alcyon) 

 Mr. Davie says the number of eggs is 

 six but when a full complement is laid 

 seven or eight. Five and six and some- 

 times seven constitute a set in this lo- 

 cality. 



Red-headed Woodpecker (Melenerpes 

 erythrocephalus). Davie says, "The 

 egg are five or six in number." On 

 the 6th day of Juae, 1897, I examined a 

 nest of the Melererpes erythrocephalus 

 and found four young birds— one at 

 least a week younger than the rest. 

 While Mr. Davie made notice of the 

 uneven hatching of the Cuckoos and 

 Belted Kingfisher he never mentioned 

 this fact in the Woodpecker which I 

 have frequently noticed in my collect- 

 ing trips. 



Wood Pewee (Co72<op/ms virens). In 

 concluding a desciiption of the nest of 

 this bird Davie says- "Externally it is 

 covered with pieces of lichens which 

 are held in position by webs, and the 

 structure thus ornamented is indistin- 

 guishable from a natural protuberance 

 itself." 



Out of a personal examination of 

 over a hundred nests only one contain- 

 ed any lichens at ^,11. 



The remarks of my observations are 

 confined to Park county, Ind. 



WiNFIELD S. CATLIN. 



Herned Owls and Eagles eggs, but we 

 found it too earJy owing to heavy rains 

 and continued cold weather, fco we re- 

 paired to a grove of cypress trees and a 

 number of Anna's Hummingbirds dart- 

 ing about indicated nests. I soon found 

 a nest 15 feet up on a horizontal cypress 

 limb which proved to contain two eggs 

 about half incubated. Mr. Osgood also 

 discovered a nest of same bird and on 

 climbing to it found one j^oung and the 

 remaining egg about to hatch. 



C. Barlow, 

 Santa Clara, Calif. 



A February Trip. 



On Feb. 22, 1893 W. H. Osgood and I 

 went to the mouutains to look for 



Pronounciation of Scientific Names. 



Among the answers given in a recent 

 OoLOGiST to the questions quoted in 

 the September issue I find the author 

 stating ai the end of No. 5 that it is bet- 

 ter to adopt the English pronounciation 

 for scientific terms. Will the author 

 of this advice kindly tell why it is bet- 

 ter for the nations having accepted the 

 English language in their constitutions 

 to adopt a method of their own, when 

 all the other nations are apparently 

 well satisfied with the Roman prondun- 

 ciation? 



Why alter an old established system 

 when it is satisfactory in every way? 

 Just to save some the trouble of com- 

 mitting those few rules of pronouncia- 

 tion to memory? 



I hope this is not the reason, for in 

 my estimation it would be as just to 

 adopt English terms altogether (as in- 

 deed some have had the nerve to advo- 

 cate) and throw our beautiful old sys- 

 tem into the attic. When the English 

 speaking nations can boast of all the 

 world having adopted their language, 

 then and not before would it be advis- 

 able to change a system so universally 

 employed as the one under consldera- 

 tion. H. SCHWARZ, 



St. Louis, Mo. 



