THE OOLOGIST. 



27 



•GIST will comply with Mr. Foster's i-e- 

 quest, as their notes aud observations 

 may be of considerable value tcj him. — 

 Ed.] 



An Albino Blue Jay. 



While visiting a brother naturalist at 

 Grinnell, Iowa, a short time since, he 

 interested me considerably by bringing 

 in a ivliite Blue Jay. As it might interest 

 some of the readers of the Oologist, I 

 will give a description of him. The 

 Jay was presented to Mr. Wm. Berry, of 

 Grinnell, Iowa, by his brother-in-law, 

 Mr. Geo. B. Earp, of Monmouth, 111. A 

 neighbor of Mr. Earp found it in a nest 

 in their front yard. When first hatched 

 was perfectly white with pink eyes. 

 There were three others in the nest, but 

 they were blue like the parent bird. Is 

 full grown now and in full plumage, 

 which is all white except the wings and 

 tail, which have a very light tinge of 



thousands flying directly South-east. 

 The black line reached from far in the 

 N-W to the S-E, as far as the eye could 

 reach, aud they continued to come for 

 over an hour, until after sundown. 

 Tuesday morning during a dri\'ing rain 

 the drove lessened at least two- thirds; 

 came away from south-east and were 

 going due north-east. 

 Nov. 27, '89. 



W. L. McDaniel, 



Mincola, Tex. 



Nest of the Texan Bobwhite. 



{CoHnus virginianus texanus.) 



On the 12th of May, as I was careless- 

 ly sauntering across a lueadow, I ac- 

 cidentally came across a nest of this 

 species. 



It was the most beautiful nest that I 

 ever saw of this species, or I may well 

 say, of any other kind. It was on the 



ground in grass about six inches high. 



The parent bird had made a depression 

 blue with a little darker shade of blue ) iu the ground, and had constructed her 

 where it is black in other Jays; also a 

 band of blue around topknot, with a lit- 

 tle patch of blue at the base of bill, 

 where it black in other Jays. Bill and 

 legs pei'fectly white, eyes pink. He is 

 confined in a cage but seems to enjoy 

 himself as well as though at home in 

 the woods. 



R. D. Goss, 

 New Sharon, Iowa. 



Blackbirds by the Million. 



I read with much interest the com- 

 munication of Neil F. Posson, Medina, 

 N. Y., and was especially impressed 

 with it as I do not believe thei-e is any- 

 thing at all strange in it. The black- 

 birds are merely going to their roost 

 which in some localities cover many' 

 hundreds of acres. Now as if in inten- 

 tional contradiction of the intimation 

 of Mr. Posson when he says "always 

 North-east" on Sunday evening, Nov. 

 34, '89. I saw a drove of blackbirds 

 numbering up among the hundreds of 



nest. The nest was oven shaped and 

 made of grass closely interwoven. It 

 was fastened firmly to the hole by being 

 interwoven with the neighboring grass. 

 It was situated about forty feet from 

 the wo<xls. I Avas not long exploring 

 its contents. In it I found two eggs. I 

 came back four days after, and two more 

 eggs were in. This time I caught the 

 parent bird on the nest, so there is no 

 doubt to the identity. I came back 

 five days later and found three more 

 eggs in it. I came back twice to see if 

 she had not finished the set, and find- 

 ing both times there were no more eggs 

 in it, and that the birds were gone. I 

 took the seven eggs. They measured 

 1.18X.94, 1.19X.94, 1.20x.98, 1.22x.95, 

 1.48X.91, 1.49X.945, 1.53x.95. 



The last one was twisted at the 

 smaller end. It also has a bubble on 

 the the smaller end, caused by a 

 deficiency of lime. All the eggs are 

 pyriform, Init some, more than others. 

 Lewis Knox, 



Lee Co., Tex. 



