22 



THE YOUNG OOLOGIST. 



Inquiries and Answers. 



WAX-WING, FLICKER, WHITE-BELLIED SWALLOW. 



G. W. H , Worcester, Mass. — I received The 

 Young Oologist this morning, am perfectly satisfied 

 with size and contents. Will you tell me the true 

 name of the bird called "Cherry-bird" in this sec- 

 tion ? Also Pigeon Wood Pecker ? There is a pair 

 of birds building their nest in a bird house in my 

 yard. The birds are about the size of the English 

 Sparrow, they have purple backs, white bellies, and 

 very large, swallow like wings. Can you tell me 

 what they are ? 



1. Cedar Wax-wing, commonly called Cedar or 

 Cherry-bird. 



2. Yellow Shafted Flicker. There is no American 

 bird known by a greater number of names. In our 

 correspondence we have had this bird called by more 

 than a dozen names, among which we might mention 

 as more common Goldenwinged|Woodpecker, Flicker, 

 Yellow hammer, Highhole, Highholder, Yellow 

 Shafted Woodpecker, Pigeon Woodpecker, etc., etc. 

 We once had a correspondent who called this bird the 

 " Zebec," cannot say what authority he had for so 

 doing. 



3. White-bellied Swallow. 



SHRIKES, ETC. 



From E. B. W., Cresco, Iowa. — I am very well 

 pleased with your paper. Please, can you tell me the 

 difference betwen a Loggerhead and a White-rumped 

 Shrike ? I have found three Shrikes' nests, but I 

 don't know which kind laid the eggs. In your price 

 list of first class eggs, the Yellow-billed Cuckoo is 

 numbered 38'?, and the Black-billed 388. In the 

 second class list the numbers are changed around. 

 Which is right ? 



Your Shrikes' nests are doubtless those of the 

 White-rumped. Of the difference between this 

 species and the Loggerhead, Baird, in Vol. IX of the 

 Pacific R. R. Reports, says : This species is similar 

 in appearance to the Loggerhead, but differs in 

 several points. The ash of the upper parts is decid- 

 edly lighter, the rump generally alnn.ost white,- instead 

 of nearly like the back. The white at the base of 

 the tail feathers is much more extended, reaching 

 within half an inch or less of the tips of the coverts. 

 There is also a good deal of white on the secondaries, 

 visible from below, not seen in Loggerhead. 



The numbers given the Cuckoos in first class list 

 are correct. 



sparrow hawk. 



From W. B., Hoosack Falls, N. Y. — ''I have 

 an egg in my posession that I would like to hear you 

 give the name of in your next number of The 

 Young Oologist. I found five of them in the latter 

 part of May 1883, in a hole made in a rotten tree 

 about fifteen feet from the ground. The egg is an 

 inch and one-fourth in diameter, being nearly round ; 

 it is light brown, completely covered with small specks 

 of a little darker hue, some being darker than others. 

 I am very well pleased with your paper, it is more 

 than I expected. 



Your egg is that of the Sparrow Hawk. 



PKWEE, BLACK PEWKE, AND WOOD PEWEE. 



From L. M. D., Newburgh, Ohio. — You will find 

 enclosed the egg of some bird that builds on the 

 ground. The nest is very simple, being composed of 

 fine grass, and lined with a few horse hairs. The 

 nest was concealed under a tuft of grass, and con- 

 tained four eggs of the owner, and two eggs of the 

 Cowbird. Please tell me the distinction between the 

 Black Pewee, Wood Pewee, and Pewee, their eggs 

 and nests. 



The eg? sent was that of the Song Sparrow. 



The Pewee is very commonly called Phoebe-bird. 

 The Black Pewee takes the place of the Pewee on 

 the Pacific coast. In regard to the nest of the 

 Pewee, Samuels, in his Birds of New England, says ; 

 The nest is usually placed under a bridge, sometimes 

 under an eave or ledge of rock, sometimes a barn or 

 other building. It is constructed of fine roots, gras- 

 ses, fine moss, and hairs, which are plastered together, 

 and to the object the nest is built on, by pellets of 

 mud ; it is hollowed about an inch and a half, and 

 lined with soft grasses, wool and feathers. The eggs 

 are usnally five in number ; their color is white, with 

 a very delicate cream tint. There are usually in each 

 litter one or two eggs, with a few spots thinly scattered 

 ever the larger end ; these spots are of a reddish 

 brown. The period of incubation is thirteen days, 

 and two broods are often reared in the season in this 

 latitude. The length of eggs varies from .72 to .78 

 inch ; breadth from .54 to .56 inch. 



The Wood Pewee is smaller, and in color of a 

 darker shade than the Pewee, which it resembles in 

 many respects, The eggs are of a beautiful cream 

 color spotted and blotched, frequently forming a 

 wreath around the large end, with brown and lilac. 

 From several dozen eggs we find them to measure 

 from .66 to .76 inch in length, and from .52 to .58 inch 

 in breath. The nest is usually built on the horizontal 

 limb of a tree. Nuttall describes the nest as follows : 



" The nest is extremely neat and curious, almost 

 universally saddled upon an old moss grown and 

 decayed limb in a horizontal position, and it is so 

 remarkably shallow, and incorporated upon the 

 branch as to be easily overlooked. The body of the 

 fabric consists of wiry grass or root fibers, often 

 blended with the small branching lichens, held 

 together with cobwebs and caterpillars' silk, moistened 

 with saliva ; externally it is so coated over with 

 bluish crustaceous lichens as to be hardly discernable 

 from the moss upon the trees. It is lined with finer 

 root fibers or slender grass stalks." 



WHITE bluebird EGGS. 



From C. A. D.. Burlington, Vt. — Is there a new 

 kind of Bluebird here ? We found a nest in a post, 

 with bird on ; it contained five white eggs nearly the 

 same shape and size as a common one. 



The Bluebird occasionally lays white eggs. 



Errata. — On page 7, No. i, under Western birds, 

 your reply is an error. 



The Lark of Dakota is the Western Lark, and the 

 bird with yellow breast, the Western Kingbird. 

 F. T. J. 



Prov., R. I. 

 Many thanks for correction. — [Ed. 



