THE OOLOGIST. 



2i 



third* of perhaps no more than two. Some 

 species, if deprived of all or a part of their 

 eggs, will continue to deposit new sets or to 

 replace the missing eggs under the most 

 discouraging circumstances. A moderate 

 illustration of the size of a possible litter of 

 eggs when they have repeatedly been taken, 

 is the instance of depriving a Downy Wood- 

 pecker of twelve eggs, the aggregate of two 

 sets. This habit, however, of continuing 

 to deposit eggs after the set has been bro- 

 ken is not common with all birds ; indeed, 

 the greater number when thus deprived de- 

 sert both nest and locality. Among this 

 number may be mentioned the Grouse fam- 

 ily, the Woodcock, and most of the IScolo- 

 pacidm. Birds that always rear the same 

 number of young, if not robbed of all their 

 eggs, usually continue to sit on the remain- 

 ing ones. A large number of species, not- 

 ably some of the Hawks, Sparrows, Owls 

 and sea birds, scarcely ever abandon the 

 locality of the nest, even though continual- 

 ly dispossessed of their eggs, but will con- 

 struct the nest within a short distance of the 

 first. The most striking example of this 

 kind is the takiug of seveu sets of eggs of the 

 Broad-winged Hawk, from the same local- 

 ity, in five successive seasons, but this year 

 the nest has remained unmolested, three 

 young having been reared. 



From time to time, we have published 

 accounts of unusually large sets of eggs,f 

 which, in some instances impress us as be- 

 ing remarkable, especially as no precedent 

 can be found to establish such an occur- 

 rence as other than what might, with pro- 

 priety, be termed a deformity, not only in 

 their exceptional size, but from the fact 



former occupation, and yet were new, would 

 go to prove. ^ The general impression of col- 

 lectors when* discovering fresh eggs late in 

 the season, is that the birds evidently were 

 late in building, and ornithologists generally 

 confine many birds to one litter, when in 

 reality they deposit from one to even three 

 sets in a season, not including, of course, re- 

 paired sets that eggs had previously been 

 taken fi'om. 



* Figuratively . 



t See item on page 43 of Vol. I. 



that in such sets are frequently found curi- 

 ously marked and misshapen eggs. As 

 often in forced deposits, these malformed 

 eggs are usually infertile. This jnay ex- 

 plain to many collectors, who have found 

 such eggs long after the young have been 

 hatched, the reason of their occurrence un- 

 der such circumstances. Not only in un- 

 usually large sets or forced repeated depo- 

 sitions, do we find deformed eggs, howev- 

 er, for they are met with more or less fre- 

 quently in many other connections. In a 

 litter of seven eggs of the Yellow-sfiafted 

 Woodpecker, was one that, though perfect 

 in other respects, was but half-shelled, the 

 remaining portion being enclosed in a thin 

 membraneous skin, apparently a continua- 

 tion of the shell. We still have in our cab- 

 inet an egg of the Yellow Bird of very sin- 

 gular form ; it measures about .75 of an 

 inch long by scarcely more than .18 inch 

 in width. The usual malformation in eggs 

 is deficiency in size, and which in most 

 cases is attended with clouded markings ; 

 the shell is rough and very frequently brit- 

 tle and thin. 



As a rule, eggs laid in hollows and dark 

 places are white or light-colored, notwith- 

 standing the little credence that has been 

 given the assertion, and those which, from 

 the character of the nest are exposed, 

 are for the most part spotted, marked or of 

 a dark shade. A careful reflection will 

 show this to be applicable under all circum- 

 stances. Did space permit a more exten- 

 sive account of the details of oviposition, 

 much might be said in regard to occasional 

 deviation in color and markings ; the ac- 

 tions of different species when deprived of 

 their eggs ; and considerable could be ad- 

 ded to the already lengthy dissertations on 

 the habit of the Cow Bird. 



We would request correspondents to en- 

 close items intended for publication in an 

 envelope instead of pasting them on a pos- 

 tal card. It would save both trouble and 

 the waste-basket. 



