148 



THE OOLOGIST. 



aiige twigs and lined with thistle down. 

 The parents sat near by, and the cry of 

 the female Avas piteous indeed. He, 

 who has not soul enough to feel deep 

 sympathy with the parents cry of dis- 

 tress, is not much of a naturalist. 



May 16. Visited the Cormorant 

 rookery mentioned previously, and 

 found vigorous prepai'ations for build- 

 ing going on, but no eggs. Met one of 

 those pesky "plume Hunters" trying to 

 secure an egret or two. He shoAved 

 me a set of three Green Heron's 

 eggs; they were fresh and placed on a 

 mangrove tree, about 8 feet from the 

 ground. 



May 21. Went to a Bay<ni to hunt 

 Rails eggs, and tramped for hours and 

 found one rotten egg and got disgusted 

 and left. Followed up the Ixmks of a 

 creek and saw two nests containing 

 young Green Herons and got one set of 

 3 fresh eggs. Saw a nest containing 3. 

 eggs, nearly 25 feet up in a sapling; an 

 unusual height for a Green Heron. 



May 26. I again visited the Cormo- 

 rant rookery, with better success than 

 before. Climbing a mangroA^e tree, in 

 which all the nests Avere built, I Avas 

 pleased to find 3 nests containing 3 eggs 

 each; you maybe sure I "jugged" them. 

 The nests averaged 30 feet from the 

 ground. I next took a set of 4, and 

 then 4 sets of 3, 1 set of 2 and 1 set of 1. 

 Leaving the key, Avent to outside fiats 

 to look for Gulls' eggs; found none, and 

 came to a key, and Avhile exploring, 

 found a set of 1 Chuck-Avills-widow's. 

 The egg Avas laid under a .young pine 

 tree, on the pine straAv. There Avas no 

 attempt made to build a nest. 



May 28. My brother and I started on 

 a trip doAvn the coast to turn sea turtles. 

 We reached Passage Key, 12 miles 

 from Bonifacio, at dusk. Many hun- 

 dreds of Laugliing Gulls hovering over 

 the Island, gave promise of a successful 

 day to come; so retired full of pleasant 

 expectation. 



May 29. Arose, and after lunching, 



wc landed and pr(K'oeded to hunt for 

 eggs. The key is covered Avith tussocks 

 of coarse grass, and in this the Gull us- 

 ually makes a AvalloAV and dei)osits her 

 eggs, but sometimes she lays on Inire 

 sand. We had found one set of three, 

 6 sets of 2 and 3 sets of 1, Ijy noon. 

 Then entering a thicket, on the odge (;f 

 a pond, in the key, Ave found a colony 

 of Louisiana Herons, nesting, and ob- 

 tained 8 sets of 3 and 1 set of 2. The 

 nests Avere made of loosely arranged 

 sticks and A'ery poorly constructed. 

 Wading ahmg the edge of the pond, I 

 discoA'ered 2 sets of 3 fresh eggs of Grey 

 Kingbird. The nests Avere remarkably 

 thin and Aveak, composed of brown fib- 

 rous material and placed about 6 ft. up. 

 Also found one set of B. T. Grackle's, 3 

 fresh eggs in the set; nest placed in 

 mangrove liml), OA'erhanging the water. 



June 3. Returning Avith a load of 

 turtles and turtle's eggs, avc landed 

 again on Passage Key and collected 15 

 sets of 3 and 2 sets of 2 Laughing 

 Gull's. Leaving the key at noon, 

 reached home safely. 



June Myself, a gentleman and Avife 

 Avent to Passage Key. I found 1 set of 3 

 and 3 sets of 2 Laugliing Gull's. On 

 the northern end of the key the Black 

 Skimmers Avere nesting on a Ijan; sand 

 spot. proceeded thither and foiuid 2 

 sets of 3,1 of 2, 8 singles. Leaving late, 

 we sailed home. 



July 29. While on my -way to Avork, 

 passing through a Ioav piece of grcrund, 

 I flushed a Night Hawk and Avas much 

 pleased to find a set of tAvo fresh eggs. 

 The A'ariation in the set Avas very 

 marked, one egg being quite dark and 

 \'ery thickly spotted Avith brown, and 

 the other nearly Avhite Avitli only a few 

 blotches on its surface. The eggs Avcre 

 laid in a most open spot and thercv Avas 

 not CA'en a AvalloAv to serve as a nest. 



This completes the list of specimens 

 taken during the jcav 1888. Uiu'ing 

 the jiresent year, expect to take many 

 ueAv species (to me) and Avill send in 



