196 



THE OOLOGIST. 



seers stootl upon the four sei)ar:vte cor- 

 ners intently watc-hing the anties of a 

 .snow-white English Sparrow, which 

 seemed to be king among its solier- 

 vv coated fellows, denuinding and i-e- 

 ceiving from them an amount of hom- 

 age and i'esi)ectful attention that 

 woidd ha\'e done the heart of liis Idgh- 

 ness, tlie Shah of Persia, good. A 

 resident (if the neiglil>orhoo<i said that 

 he had noticed the al!iin<» for two or 

 three years. "He has a nest in yon- 

 der cluirch steej)le," lie exphiined, 

 "and 1 liave spent considerable time 

 in watching him and stndying Ids pe- 

 culiarities. He is a male t)ird and a 

 bachelor. That may sound strange, 

 but there ai'c lots of l)aciiel()r and spins- 

 tei- birds among tlie English Sparrows. 

 Season after season they i-efuse to 

 mate, set up establishments of their 

 own ami live in them, despised and 

 quarreled with constantly by the mar- 

 ried birds. This white Sparrow seems 

 to have some authority over the others. 

 They In'iug him food and even build 

 his nest for him. Life with him is an 

 existence of idleness and luxury. 

 When any bird refuses or neglects to 

 pay him tribute he attacks the direlct't, 

 gives him a sound drubbing and event- 

 ually brings him to terms." 



1 took the above fi'om the Atlanta 

 C'oustitution, and the Constitution cop- 

 ied it from the Philadelphia Inquirer, 

 and I should be glad to hear from some 

 of oologist friends in Philadelphia 

 about the white Spariow, for 1 know 

 it would interest all the readers of The 

 Oologist. 



J. W. P. S., 



Sans Souci, N. ('. 



Nests and Eg-gs of North. American 

 Birds. 



T/ie Follouing is What the Farm, Field 

 and Stockman, of (Jhicago isa;ys of 



tJie third edition of Davie's Work. 



A thorough and reli;ible work, the 

 new edition of whicli has been looked 



for during se\'eral months by thost/i in- 

 terested in birds. In sonu^ respects it 

 is a unique work. The investigations 

 to procure the necessary scientilic facts 

 have been pursued with gi-eat ])ersisten- 

 cy and fidelity. Tlie author seems to lia\(' 

 l)i'ought unthn' c()nti'il)ution every one 

 wlio could give the data wanted from 

 original sources. Usually the authoi'ily 

 is cited. The illustrations ai'c a great 

 hc^lp especially to youthful students or 

 collectors. They add much to the at- 

 tractiveness of th(> book for the general 

 reader. There are tiiirteen of these 

 full-page illustrations. Some of them 

 probably de]uct what has never l)efore 

 been attemj^ted. Such for exanipU' as 

 that of the Burrowing Owls, Water 

 Ouzels or Dippers and nests, Califoi'- 

 nia Bush Tit, etc. Among the plates 

 which are an ornament to the book 

 as pictures are those -of the Swallow- 

 tailed Kite and nest, tlu' Wood Ducks, 

 Blue Gray, Gnatcatcher and nest, etc. 

 There is a touching and poetic dedica- 

 tion to the memory of Locius S. Willson, 

 evidently a companion and dear friend 

 in the pursuit of scientilic knowledge 

 and in the appreciation of nature. 



One feature which should popularize 

 this work for collectors, students and 

 the genearl reader, is the care in giving 

 prominence to the conmion names. In 

 this respect great care and good sense 

 is shown in the ty])e and the general 

 style of i)rinting and arrangement of 

 paragraphs. The scope of the work 

 seems to be U) cover the land aiul water 

 birds of North America and to give a 

 description of the nests and eggs. It 

 includes all the species that are indi- 

 genious north of the Southern United 

 States boundary, including Greenland 

 and the Peninsula of Lower California. 

 The breeding I'ange of each s])ecies is 

 given, the time of nesting, the exact 

 numl)er of eggs laid, their color and 

 size, together with the chief chara,cter- 

 istics of the l>irds. 



Often the measui-ements of eggs nre 



