154 



THE YOUNG OOLOGIST. 



Gambel's Quail. 



( Loportyx Oamhelli. ) 

 I take the following description from a 

 head and a number of eggs furnished me 

 by a gentleman of Arizona Territory. 

 The bird Is altogether unknown to me, 

 being contined principally to that' territory 

 and the northwest. They are said to be 

 very common there and are killed in large 

 quantities for game. The bill is nine-six- 

 teenths of an inch long and five sixteenths 

 deep. It is of a pure black color, and 

 curves somewhat down. The head is 

 crested with six black feathers about one 

 and one-half inches long, which form into 

 a solid bunch, narrowed at the base and 

 widening toward the top. Top of head 

 chestnut brown. Forehead and frontal 

 feathers bright black, crossed near the 

 upper part with a band of white, which 

 extends from eye to eye, thence passing 

 along the side of the head nearly to the 

 back. Cheeks and lores bright black. Jug 

 ulum black. Throat and neck light grayish 

 with a tinge of blue, the ends of the feath- 

 ers lightly tipped with darker. A white 

 streak extends in a cvirved line from verj^ 

 near the eye to a point about a half an inch 

 from the same. A spot lying under the 

 iipper white band and back of the ear, is 

 faint grayish brown, triangular in shape. 

 Back of neck and head gray with a tinge 

 of blue. All feathers are plainly edged 

 with slate color. In regard to its nesting 

 habits I am unacquainted ; but the Prina 

 Indians who procured the eggs, say the nest 

 was nothing more than a hole scraped in the 

 sand. The eggs were collected near loca- 

 ton, Pinal county. I do not know how 

 many there were in the clutch. As they 

 were collected on May 25th. 1885, I should 

 judge niditication begins near the 1st or 

 10th of May. Few eggs of the same species 

 show such a variation in color and mark- 

 ings. The ground color in the main is 

 creamy brown, being darker in some and 

 lighter in others. It is spotted, specked 

 and blotched all over, principally at the 

 larger end, with reddish brown, chestnut 

 and rufous. In some the blotches do not 



occur, and the whole egg is specked pro- 

 fusely. Some are more thickly spotted 

 than others. One has a semi-circle of dots 

 around the small end. The size varies 

 greatly as the dimensions of the following 

 eggs will show : 



1.34 X .96 1.22 x .96 1.25 x 1.00 



1.22 X .96 1.25x .96 1.25 x .96 



1.22 x .96 1.09 X .96 1.09 x .96 



1.31 x. 96 1.31x1.00 1.28x1.00 



The eggs in shape resemble those of 

 others of the family, being pointed at the 

 small end and nearly flat at large one. 

 Warren Carter, 

 Wallingford, Pa. 



Notes from Ncrv^rich, C~nn. 



On Ma}^ 20, '82 I found an unusual set 

 of four American Osprey, Fish Hawk (Pan- 

 dion haliaetus carolinensLs) on Plum 

 Island. The eggs were fresh and have a 

 verj' beautiful rich brown color and are by 

 far the handsomest set I have seen, and I 

 have taken over fifty sets and seen as many 

 more sets of eggs in the nests. I also 

 found a set of three, a very odd set. The 

 first %gg is clear white, the second nearly 

 white except a few very faint lilac spots 

 hardly ()l)servable, and the third is like the 

 average eggs of this species. 



Catbird (Galeoccoptes carolinensis). On 

 Jvme 23, '82 I found a set of five. Let us 

 hear from some of the collectors who have 

 found sets of five through The Young 



OOLOGIST 



Robin (Merula migratoria). On May 4, 

 1882, found a set of five eggs. 



American Goldfinch (Astragalinus tris- 

 tis). On July 30, '84, found a set of four 

 pure white eggs of this species. 



Henslow's Sparrow (Coturniculus hen- 

 sloni). On July 3, '82, found the third set 

 ever found in New London County. The 

 first two were found by Mr. Junius A. 

 Brand of this city, who identified mine for 

 me. They were found at Gardner's Lake, 

 Boxrah, Conn. , eight miies from here in a 

 dry pasture within two hundred yards of a 

 heavy piece of woods. Nest made like a 

 Song Sparrow's on the ground. 



