THE OOLOGIST. 



159 



iug over the edge of the nest. I weut 

 up carefully, aud was able to get withia 

 two feet of the uest before the bird liew 

 otf, lighting on a twig about a foot 

 above it. 



Taking a good look, 1 was able to 

 identify the bird a« a White-eyed Viero. 

 The two Thrush's eggs were in the nest 

 and one egg of the Viero. . 



Two days later when I weut to the 

 nest, the Thrush's had hatched (incuba- 

 tion was far advanced when I took my 

 egg) and the Vireo's egg Avas gone. I 

 sat down a little ways from the nest 

 and in a few minutes saw the old 

 Vireos feed the young Thrushes. 



I would like to know if anyone else 

 ever noted a like instance? 



E. D. RoYCE, 

 Tolland Co., Conn. 



Downy Woodpeckek and Pewee. 



About the middle of May of the pres- 

 ent year, I heard the cheery notes of a 

 Downy Woodpecker for several suc- 

 cessive days, in a small tract of timber 

 near . my home, and knowing these 

 notes to be those of love. I concluded it 

 had, or at least would have, a nest in 

 the vicinity. 



So I kept a vigilant watch, and on 

 the 37th of the month, as I rapped upon 

 a dead wild plum tree stub, I Avas re- 

 warded by seeing Mrs. Downy fly out, 

 and, thinking it leather late in the 

 season for eggs of this species, I im- 

 mediately "made way" into its nest, by 

 sawing oft' the stub just above the open- 

 ing, when to my dismay the nest Avas 

 found to be empty. 



Sawing a thin piece from the stub 

 just sawed oft', I placed it over the hole, 

 so that no person Avould notice it 

 except by close examination, and to mj 

 joy, Mrs. Woodpecker did not either, 

 or if she did it "cut no figure" Avith her, 

 for on May 30th it had tAVO eggs. The 

 next day another one Avas added, but 

 on June 3rd it was found to be emi)ty, 



robbed by some animal or boy, aud my 

 set of eggs was gone. 



At this time a Pewee had built her, 

 nest under the projecting roots of an 

 oak over a gravel bed, only about ten 

 yards from the tree where the Wood- 

 pecker had built. On June 3rd, this 

 PcAvee's nest had no eggs in it, but on 

 June 6th it had two tggs in it, Avhich 

 exactly resembled those three that were 

 destroyed or taken from the Wood- 

 pecker's nest. Those two eggs resem- 

 ble in every Avay, all the eggs of the , 

 DoAvny Woodpecker in my collection 

 and all I have ever seen alike in size, 

 shape and usual gloss of eggs of the 

 family Picidae. 



My opinion of them is: When rob- 

 bed of her three eggs and her nest de- 

 stroyed, she, having no receptacle for 

 the other two eggs, deposited them in 

 the nearest available place— that 

 PcAvee's nest. 



The PcAvee laid no eggs, but sat on 

 those two for about a Aveek and then 

 deserted them. On June 25th I took 

 them, and on bloAving, the contents of 

 each Avere "dried up," in fact there was 

 scarcely anything in one of them. 



Soon after being robbed the Wood- 

 pecker began the excavation of another 

 hole in the same stub, about eight 

 inches loAver down than the other one, 

 and on June 14th I took a fine set of 

 four eggs from it. I have neither 

 heard nor seen the Woodpecker since. 



As I have before said, those tAvo eggs 

 exactly resembled this set of four eggs, 

 OoLOGiSTS, hei'e is a nut for you to 

 crack. I would be pleased to have 

 opinions expressed as to Avhether those 

 tAVO Avere eggs of DoAvny Woodpecker 

 or not. 



"WiSCONICUS," 



Dodge Co., Wis. 



Variation in the Eggs of Habia Ludoviciana. 



Although no material variation pre- 

 sents itself in the eggs of the Ros«- 



