Tun NIDlOtOGIS^. 



157 



this egg would surely be incubated less 

 than those just blown? 



But I found, too late! that this embryo 

 was much more advanced than any of those 

 in the other eggs. I worked too rapidly; 

 and in my haste and in my eager watchings, 

 between blows, for the parent Thrush, I 

 made an ugly chip, and then came a burst 

 and a disfigured egg, which will be an eye- 

 sore to me as long as I live, for as long as I 

 live I shall admire my eggs. 



The .nest was saddled among interlacing 

 twigs, two and a half feet from the ground; 

 composition — coarse bark strips, weed 

 stems, round grasses and leaves, with 

 lining of fine plant stems, half-skeletonized 

 leaves, and dragon-fly iviiigs! 



The Thrush eggs are rather dark and 

 under average size. The Cuckoo egg is 

 rather pale green, with faint mottling, ellip- 

 tical, in size i x .75. And so, whether its 

 parent was a Yellow-bill or a Black-bill, no 

 human being will ever know. 



A sincere friend, in whom science has 

 swallowed up sentiment, looks overy my 

 manuscript and then drily remarks: 

 "Humph! here you've taken up so many 

 half-columns with your talk, and all you've 

 said is that you found a nest of Wilson's 

 Thrush containing an unidentifiable Cuckoo 

 egg, and that you ran across a sickly set of 

 eggs of Traill's Fly-catcher." 



I cringe at first under the hard indict- 

 ment, and then I turn from him that carps 

 to all 3'ou that read, and say: "The thrill 

 of it all comes back to me as I am writing 

 to-night, and have you not all enjoyed the 

 taking of that novel set with me?" 



Owatonna, Minn. 



The Florida Red-shouldered Hatuk. 



Chas. K. Worthen, of Warsaw, 111., writes: I 

 have just returned home after quite a prolonged 

 absence at the State Capitol, where I was called to 

 overhaul, repair and arrange the Natural History 

 collection belonging to the State Agricultural 

 Society, which had been on exhibition at the 

 Columbian Exposition. 



Your letter and the January, February, March 

 and April numbers of the "Nid" recaived. It is 

 the oologist's magazine, and I am anxious to get 

 the rest. — C. B. Johnson, Red Wing, Alinn. 



THIS is one of the commonest Hawks 

 in this part of Texas. It is resident, 

 and can be seen and heard almost any 

 rather warm day. It is fond of sailing in 

 circles, high in the air. 



I have watched one sail higher and high- 

 er till it would look like a small butterfly. 

 The flight of this Hawk is beautiful in its 

 grace and ease, equalling that of the Turkey 

 Vulture. Their food consists of insects, 

 lizards, snakes, birds, frogs and minnows. 

 The nesting places are usually along small 

 creeks that have a small strip of bottom 

 land, although a few of them breed in the 

 uplands. These usually are the latest 

 breeders. The nest is composed of sticks, 

 lined with moss and a few feathers plucked 

 from the bird's breast. Eggs can be found 

 as early as March 5, and until about the 

 middle of March. Three to four eggs are 

 the common nest complement. 



These Hawks have the habit of placing 

 fresh leaves in the nest, which badly stain 

 the eggs. As incubation goes on they con- 

 tinue to place the fresh branches in the nest. 

 Before the eggs are hatched the nest is 

 nearly full of these green leaves. My idea 

 about their placing the green twigs and 

 leaves in the nests is, that the branches 

 being green they contain water in the form 

 ofsap. Now heated by the bird sitting on 

 them, they begin to wither and give off this 

 sap in the form of heat and moisture, which 

 I believe greatly assists in the incubation. , 



The ground color of the eggs is dull white 

 or bluish-white. The markings var}' from 

 a pinkish-brown to reddish-brown, and 

 mahogany-brown; Wxej are from fine specks 

 to bold blotches and spots. 



I have two eggs of this Hawk, which are 



bluish- white; one has a few specks, like 



pin points, while the other is unmarked. 



Kit Atkinson. 

 Dime Box, Texas. 



I am very much interested in the "Nid," and 

 welcome each new number. — ^J. M. H.\TCH, E)scon- 

 dido, Cal. 



