16 



THE NIDIOLOGIST. 



Birds in a Storm. 



THR officers of the City of Peking, 

 which arrived at San Francisco, 

 August ID, from Hong-Kong, told a 

 story of a terrific typhoon which they had 

 encountered in Japanese waters, together 

 with the steamer Taisang. The Taisang 

 got well into the harbor at 5 p. m., says the 

 report, but so severe was the storm that the 

 great rollers caused her to dip from side to 

 side until it was feared her spars would be 

 slung out of her. 



Quietly as death a calm came over the 

 waters at 6 o'clock, and a few minutes later 

 a strange phenomenon occurred. Birds by 

 the thousands, flies and butterflies bj^ the 

 million, fell to the steamer's decks until 

 she was completely covered by them. 



What Constitutes a Set of Eggs? 



NOT long ago some one asked the ques- 

 tion, "What is a set of eggs?" in one 

 of our "bird" papers. 



This question was brought to my mind 

 in several ways lately, and it would seem 

 we might have some definite way of know- 

 ing what a ".set" is. 



As I have always understood it, a set is 

 all the eggs a bird will lay at one .setting, 

 without being disturbed. Under any other 

 circumstance they are singles. 



Of course, the size of a set varies greatly 

 in the same kind of l)irds. In King Rails it 

 runs from nine to fifteen, and perhaps more. 



One often sees articles written for our 

 scientific papers in which the writers tell of 

 finding sets of iwo fresh eggs of the Chicka- 

 dee, which usually lays six or .seven, and 

 man\' more of this kind. Let us have some 

 understanding about this, and perhaps the 

 views of ye editor would help us out. 



Kewanee, 111. A. C. M. 



[Certainly a "set" comprises all of the 

 eggs which the bird will deposit for one 

 "setting," if not disturbed, robbed or shot 

 in the meantime. When two fresh eggs are 

 taken from a bird which ordinarily lays four 



or five, thej- cannot be called more than an 

 incomplete set, and should be so designated 

 if exchanged. The fact that the bird was 

 flushed from the eggs counts for nothing, as 

 many birds begin sitting after laying the 

 first egg. Most collectors are more averse 

 to receiving incomplete .sets than imperfect 

 sets. There is some difference of opinion 

 on this subject, but it would seem that for 

 series, incomplete sets are most undesirable, 

 as the characteristics of the missing egg or 

 eggs must be "guessed at" — an unscientific 

 proceeding. — Ed.] 



Notes and Comment. 



A communication from Robert Ridgway on the 

 question of heights of sycamores and Owls' nests 

 in Illinois is received too late for this issue. 



Mr. W. E. Loucks writes: "Have decided to 

 dispose of my collection, not that I lack enthusi- 

 asm, but that I have no place for my eggs and not 

 time to devote to them." 



Mr. A. M. Shields' swamp in Southern Califor- 

 nia where he took many eggs of White-faced 

 Glossy Ibis was this year found to be dried up and 

 deserted. 



Speaking of small sets, Mr. A. M. IngersoU re- 

 marks having taken a set of 2 Amer. Coot, badly 

 incubated. From all appearances the nest had not 

 been before molested. 



A pathetic incident in bird life is related by Mr. 

 W. \V. Curtis, of Fruit Vale, Cal. During this last 

 spring he found a nest of the Lazuli Bunting in a 

 bush by a creek. Later, after a heavy downpour 

 of rain, he again visited the nest. It was flooded 

 with water, and there, covering her eggs, sat the 

 faithful bird, dead. It had no marks of injury on 

 it and seemed to have perished from exposure. 



Aug. 30, '94, near Alameda — Barn Swallow's 

 nest, apparently with eggs, another nest building. 

 Rather late nesting. 



Snowy Plover are shot for millinery purposes 

 near San Diego, Cal., where there was a colony 

 known to Mr. Inger.soll of some forty birds. 



Starr Hoyt Nichols starts off in this wise on a 

 poem, "The Hummingbird's Nest," in the 

 Century : 



" What a frail liome to trust with family cares. 



Hair, string and moss in cunning comi)lex twisted 

 Ul)on a branch exposed to windy airs. 



As though for nestlings danger ne'er existed!" 



Who ever saw string in the composition of a 

 Hummer's nest? A ludicrous error in an illustra- 

 tion in one of our popular magazines recently was 

 that of a Hummer's nest containing three young. 

 Both the parent Inrds were perched on the edge 

 of the nest. Our .sprightly Gameland is almost as 

 bail in a note in the last numlier, which says that 

 the Screech Owl does not hoot but /lisses. It is 

 quite true that the Barn Owl emits a hissing noise 

 when disturbed from her eggs in a tree-hollow. 



