THE OOLOGIST. 



83 



[CONCLUDED FROM PAGE 81.] 



supposition is correct, it forms one reason 

 for the superabundance of the birds in this 

 country. Of the nature of its food, I be- 

 lieve it to be of evei'y description ; I have 

 observed it capturing insects in the manner 

 of Flycatchers, devouring the berries of the 

 woodbine, and gluttonously swallowing ev- 

 ery description of substances from the gut- 

 ter. 



The nest is composed of small sticks or 

 straws, matted compactly together, and 

 lined with wool or soft hair. In winter, 

 these birds are gregarious, associating in 

 flocks of twenty or thirty, for the purpose 

 of huddling close together to bestow mutual 

 warmth. In England these birds are the 

 greatest of the feathered favorites, the chil- 

 dren deeming it almost a sacrilege to harm 

 them, but the bird is rapidly falling into 

 disfavor in this country, and will doubtless, 

 in a short time, not be included in our lift 

 of protected birds. G. Stuart Smith. 



[The description of the eggs above given 

 by our correspondent, would tend to mislead 

 such of our readers as have never seen the 

 eggs of the House Sparrow. The average 

 specimen is dull gray-white, spotted and 

 dotted more or less thickly with markings 

 of a darker shade of the same color, — Ed.] 



A NUMBKR of prominent sportsmen of 

 New P^ngland are making strenuous effoi'ts 

 to introduce into America the P2uropean 

 Quail {Goturnix commicnis), to supply 

 the place in the north, of the once common 

 Virginia Partridge or Quail, which being 

 non-migratory, does not endure well the 

 rigor of the northern winter. The efforts 

 of the gentlemen are very creditable, and it 

 is to be hoped will be rewarded in time, by 

 a realization of their best expectations. 

 The European bird, being a migratory spe- 

 cies, it is presumed that it will return to 

 the north in the spring, and thus furnish a 

 very acceptable addition to the present game 

 birds of the Middle and Eastern States. 



An Egg of the Painted Bunting. 



HTHE egg figured in connection with this 

 subject is doubtless somewhat rare in 

 private collections. The specimen came 

 from Texas, throughout which state, as 

 well as all the Gulf States, the bird is to be 

 found. The nest is made up of a great va- 

 riety of substances, such as grasses, straws, 

 stems of weeds, rootlets, and pieces of leaves. 

 It is rather deep, and about two inches in 

 diameter at the top of the cavity. 



The egg is a typical one, being rather 

 stoutly ovoid, perhaps slightly inclining to 

 be blunt on the small end, with medium 

 thick, and smooth, somewhat glossy shell, 

 white, with an almost imperceptible pale 

 blue tint after being blown, and is covered 

 with light red and pale Caledonian brown 

 dots and spots, more or less fine, distributed 

 over the whole surface, but with the bulk of 

 the coarser dots on the large end. It re- 

 sembles a Golden-crowned Thrush's egg in 

 general appearance, but the shell is smooth- 

 er and the dots visibly coarser. The nest- 

 ing habits of the Painted Bunting are sim- 

 ilar to those of the Indigo Bird, both of 

 which belong to the same genus. 



We learn that the Pine Linnet ( Ghry- 

 somitrls pinus) has been one of our scarc- 

 est winter birds, and indeed, nearly every 

 species of winter bird, excepting Crossbills 

 and Snowbirds, and a few of the Sparrows, 

 have been remarkably uncommon in many 

 localities where usually they are found in 

 abundance. The reason to be assigned for 

 this is probably the mildness of the winter 

 in many portions of the northern country, 

 and consequent abundance of food. 



