THE NIDIOLOGIST 



{Op. Cit., 1884, p. 88, pi. 4) a breeding 

 place of the former seen by him in Andal- 

 usia, and then Sir Henry Blake gave an 

 account {Op. Cit., 1888, pp. 151, 152) of a 

 visit paid by him to one of the latter on 

 Abaco in the Bahamas. Both of these 

 observers knew of the prevalent belief, 

 and seemed to have expected to find it 

 borne out; but one of them writes of the 

 birds as sitting on the nests with their 

 "long, red legs doubled under the body," 

 while the other states that ' ' in every in- 

 stance the legs were folded under the bird 

 in the usual manner. ' ' Most of the nests 

 seen by Mr. Chapman, and all apparently 

 that Sir Henry saw, were on mud — and, in 

 the latter case, they were only eight inches 

 high, so that it would be impossible for the 

 birds to sit on them in the way described. 

 Moreover, none of Mr. Chapman's con- 

 tained eggs, and therefore he did not see 

 a bird actually incubating. "The question 

 cannot be regarded as settled, and further 

 observation must be awaited'' (pp. 255, 

 256). Mr. Newton's account of the Flam- 

 ingo from the "Dictionary" I have just 

 quoted is one of the best and most succinct 

 that I have ever read. It will be remem- 

 bered that Maynard described {Nat. in 

 Florida^ 1884, No. i) a breeding-place of 

 the Flamingoes in the Bahamas ' ' where 

 among hundreds of sitting birds none had 

 its legs hanging down . ' ' 



Dampier asserts, "They never lay more 

 than two eggs and seldom fewer" {New 

 Voyage Round the Worlds ed. 2, corrected 

 i., p. 71, lyondon; 1699). Coues states 

 "Eggs 2" (Key, rev. ed. p. 679), and 

 Ridgway does not venture to enlighten us 

 on the point in his "Manual" (p. 121). 

 R. Bowdler Sharpe says they lay one egg 

 only (Class. Bird, Budapest, 1891, p. 76), 

 and others differ to a greater extent. 



It would seem that there is room for 



some enterprising nidiologist to settle this 



question for us. 



— . 1-9~^ 



The Nidiologist already goes to in- 

 terested siibscribers in twenty-eight states 

 and territories. 



A RED-LETTER COLLECTING TRIP. 



BY SCOLOPAX. 



{Coiiliniiea from Page 2S-) 



Going towards shore to round a deep 

 bayou projecting well in from the lake, I 

 secured a well marked set of nine eggs of 

 the Virginia Rail. This species builds its 

 nest on the ground almost invariably, and 

 therefore in higher situations than those 

 selected by the Sora, although I have found 

 the nests of the two removed by but a few 

 yards. Nine eggs is the largest number I 

 have taken from a Virginia's nest, while 

 the Sora frequently lays eleven and some- 

 times more. 



Before reaching the end of the lake I 

 flushed a L,east Bittern from a nest con- 

 taining two eggs, which I did not take, as 

 we had agreed to collect no incomplete sets- 

 I also found two Gallinule's nests read 3^ 

 for the eggs, the old bird swimming about 

 me while I inspected one, in a manner 

 much unlike the usual custom. It is gen- 

 erally very difficult to see the old Galli- 

 nule, even for a moment, during the 

 nesting season. 



The yells and loud demonstrations of my 

 two companions led me to expect much 

 from their search, and I was not dis- 

 appointed when I reached our rendezvous 

 to find that they had taken several sets of 

 the two species of Rails, a fine set of six 

 I^east Bittern and a set of nine eggs of the 

 Florida Gallinule. Jim was nearly wild 

 from our success and when he found two 

 sets of spotted Sandpiper's eggs, each with 

 four fresh eggs, and not over twenty yards 

 apart, his appetite for dinner was totally 

 gone. We sent him for fresh water to the 

 nearest farm house, and while he was gone 

 Ben located a Killdeer's nest in a cornfield 

 and discovered a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher's 

 fairy habitation in a white oak near which 

 we were sitting, and which we resolved to 

 make Jim re- discover and climb for after 

 lunch. 



Dinner over, or lunch, as we may call it, 

 though we ate enough for several meals, 



