THE OOLOGIST. 4'C0,\^S^^ 



size aud color. An eg^ in my collection, of 

 ttie usual color, measures 1.30 x 1 inclies. 

 This was found June 21 188(i in uestcontaiu- 

 ing one other e^'g of the usual size; on 

 lilowing found egg was i-otten. 



T. S., White Siilphur Springs, W. Ya. 



An XTnuEtial Nesting Site; Peculiar 

 Eggs. 



Did the rf aders of the Oologist ever 

 hear of a Catbird Vmilding her nest in a tree. 

 In the summer of '85 as 1 was walking across 

 an old ort^iard I spied some sticks and 

 twigs protruding from a natural cavity in a 

 dead apple tree. As I approached the sj^ot 

 a Catbird Hew from it. The nest contained 

 four eggs, unmistalveably those of the G. 

 caroUitenMS. The birds had filled up a cavity 

 almost !) in. deep with the usual bulky nest. 

 This is one of the most remarkable depart- 

 ures from their usual style of nesting that 

 has fallen lender my notice but I as have 

 other collectors often found singularly 

 deformed eggs of various species. One of 

 the most remarkable of these is an egg I ob- 

 tained from a boy who brought it to me for 

 indentilicatiou last summer (1887). This 

 was found under a small tree containing a 

 nest with three o hers. It is of the usual 

 lateral diameter but its length is exactly 2^ 

 times. Another peculiar instance fell Tin- 

 der my notice in the summer of 1885. I 

 found a nest containing four eggs of the 

 Catbird. ' Two were of the common size, 

 ou'e was almost as large as a Robin's egg 

 and the other was jjerfectly round and hard- 

 ly larger than a pea! The large oue had an 

 almost imperceptible embryo forming, the 

 otheis w-ere perfectly' fresh. This circum- 

 stance was connnented upon by a friend as 

 follows. "That bird had only material 

 enough fen- four eggs, bhe made a mistake 

 in making the tirst to large and so had to 

 retrench on the other." Who can offer a 

 theory? 



• W. N. C, Biddeford, Me. 



From "Western North Carolina. 



To THE EdITOj; or THE OoLOGIST: 



I see articles in your highly esteemed 

 and interesting magazine from almost every 

 other southern State, except North Carolina 

 Now you must not infer from this that we 

 are wanting in bird life. On the other 

 hand, there are few States richer endowed 

 with the feathered tribe. Here in the 

 western part, near Morganton is as good a 

 field for the ooh)gist as he could desire. 



Thrushfs, Bluel)irds, Nuthatches, 



Warblers, \'ireos, Sw-all(.)ws, Finches, 

 Grosbeaks, Tanagers, Orioles. Crows, Jays, 

 Cuckoos, Doves and Woodpeckers are quite 

 abundant; American Q.iiail are plentiful 

 both in the hunting and breeding seasons: 

 Ruffed Grouse are rare; they breed here 

 though. Among the rarer birds are found 

 the Nighthawk. Whip-poor-will, Owls, 

 Hawks, Kildeer, Kingfisher and some 

 Herons. There are also a few Wild 

 Turkeys, but I have never foiind them 

 breeding: I have an egg, that was said to 

 have been taken near here. I collected 3 

 sets of Euby-throated Hummingbird last 

 season: also a Whip-poor-will. Turkey 

 Buzzards breed ou the bluifs near the 

 Catawba Biver; the nests and eggs are very 

 difiticult to get to and I have not been re- 

 warded yet with a set of my own collecting. 

 In and around M. ou a summer day can 

 be found as many nests as at any other 

 place, I think. 



The English Sparrow has within the last 

 three years became an abundant resident ; 

 It now surpasses any other bird in numbers. 

 Baltimore Oriole is also common, but it is 

 only recently that I have been able to 

 capture any of their eggs. I got a beautiful 

 set in June last, by means of the ai:)paratus 

 described in the Oct. -Nov. Oologist by 

 A. A., Germantown, Pa. It is not the 

 easiest thing in the world to accomi^lish 

 this; it requires a steady hand. Hoping 

 your many readers may find something 

 interesting in these lines, I remain 

 Yours Oologically, 



J. A. B., Morganton, N. <■). 



