I'H^ NIDIOLOGIST. 



6i 



common near Pasadena during the winter, 

 obtaining their food from the white oak 

 trees. Mr. Taylor stated that these Warb- 

 y lers are also quite common in Mendocino 

 County. 



Mr. Hall's paper on the Western Yellow- 

 throat was next read, and will be found in 

 full in the next issue. All members pres- 

 ent had had some experience with this 

 Warbler, and it was shown to be generally 

 distributed. 



Mr. Geo. Chamberlin read a paper on 

 "The Golden Kagle. ' ' He stated that they 

 nested in Santa Clara County, in trees as 

 a rule, and usually chose the largest and 

 most inaccessible ones, though he had 

 taken eggs from nests as low as seven feet 

 from the ground. One nest found was a 

 minature wheat field. The birds had lined 

 the nest with wheat stalks, and the follow- 

 ing year the wheat had taken root and 

 grown, and when he climbed to the nest it 

 presented an odd appearance with wheat 

 ten inches high. One, two and sometimes 

 three eggs constitute a set. Mr. Chamber- 

 lin exhibited a handsome set of three, and 

 tol 1 of the trip on which he secured it. 

 "In March, 1892, I was riding along on 

 my wheel, about ten miles from San Jose, 

 and was watching the flight of a Hawk, 

 hoping to locate its nest, when suddenly 

 I was agreeably surprised to see a Golden 

 Eagle fly to a tree in a wheat field, about a 

 half a mile distant. I ran to the tree and 

 saw a nest about 35 feet from the ground 

 and threw a rock at it. The Eagle flew to 

 a neighboring tree, and upon climbing to 

 the nest I found it contained three eggs." 

 Several incidents of Eagles being pursued 

 by Hawks were related. 



Horace A. Gay lor of Pasadena was 

 elected "to membership. The Programme 

 Committee offered the following programme 

 for the meeting December 2, to be held in 

 Mr. Osgood's home in San Jose: IvOng- 

 tailed Chat, W. H. Osgood; MacGillivray's 

 Warbler, Mr. Taylor; Audubon's Warbler, 

 Mr. Schneider; Calaveras, Townsend's and 

 Hermit Warblers (in one paper), Mr. 



McGregor; Red-bellied Hawk, Mr. Brokaw; 

 the Water Ouzel, Cory Chamberlin; Rocky 

 Mountain Screech Owl, Mr. McGregor. 



The following are now members of the 

 club: Messrs. Osgood, Clark, Benson, 

 Hertz and Barlow of San Jose; Messrs. 

 Painton, Schneider, Geo. Chamberlin and 

 Cory Chamberlin of College Park; Mr. 

 McGregor, Palo Alto; Mr. Brokaw, Salinas; 

 Mr. Taylor, Alameda; Mr. Shields, I^os 

 Angeles; Mr. Hall, Riverside; Messrs. Ar- 

 nold and Gaylor of Pasadena. We need 

 several correspondents in Northern Cali- 

 fornia, and will warmly welcome such. 

 C. Barlow, Secretary. 



—m-~i 



AN EGG OF THE ^PYORNIS. 



A large specimen of the egg of the fabled 

 "roc" of the "Arabian Nights," or yEpy- 

 ornis, as the extinct gigantic bird of Mad- 

 agascar is called, has recetitly been secured 

 by Mr. J. Proctor of Tamatave and lyondon. 

 It was discovered by some natives about 

 twenty miles to the southward of St. Au- 

 gustine's Baj^ on the southwest coast of 

 Madagascar. It was floating on the calm 

 sea, within twenty yards of the beach, and 

 is supposed to have been washed away with 

 the foreshore, which consists of sandhills, 

 after a hurricane in the early part of the 

 5'ear. The child-like longshoremen of the 

 antipodes, thinking that the egg might 

 have a value, showed the unusual piece of 

 flotsam about, with a view to the sale of it, 

 and it thus came into the hands of Mr. 

 Proctor, who has brought the curiosity to 

 lyondon. The egg, which is whity-brown 

 in color and unbroken, is a fine specimen, 

 33^ inches by 28 inches, and an even high- 

 er value is placed upon it than upon the egg 

 of the Great Auk. An Ostrich's egg is 

 about 17 inches by 15 inches, and the con- 

 tents of six such are only equal to one egg 

 of the yEpyornis. The measurements of 

 the egg of the crocodile are normally 9 

 inches by 6}^. inches. It would require the 

 contents of i6j^ Emu's eggs to equal the 

 contents of this great egg, or 148 eggs of 

 the homely fowl, or 30 000 of the Humming- 

 bird. The last egg of the kind disposed of 

 in lyondon sold for £100, though cracked. 



