86 



THE OOLOGIST. 



tliat once lays plain eggs always seems to 

 lay them, and one layiuo; marked eggs al- 

 ways lays them. Now does this go to 

 prove the occasional lymph theory of Dr. 

 Brewer ? 



Among the sets of Blue Jays', ranging 

 in their ground color from gray to light 

 green, is a rare set of fine chocolate. A set 

 of pure white Blue Bird's, and a Great- 

 crested Flycatcher's egg, white, except a 

 ring around the larger end, are among the 

 novelties. There is a Wood Thrush's egg, 

 pale in tint, more than twice as large as us- 

 ual, which either killed or frightened away 

 the old birds, for the nest and one other or- 

 dinary egg were deserted. Of the formid- 

 able array of Hawks' eggs here shown we 

 may speak at length in a future article. 

 Of the commoner eggs there is really noth- 

 ing more interesting in the changes than in 

 a long series of .Song Sparrows'. Of the 

 ground-builders, the series of Grass Finchfe' 

 is possibly the most beautiful and the changes 

 most unique. 



In conclusion, we may remark that the 

 anomalies cited are only apparent excep- 

 tions that go to prove the common rule of 

 nature. And in any large collection we 

 can still see with wonder and delight how 

 closely Nature adheres to her lovely types. 

 Jennie May Whipple. 



A Nesting of the Golden Eagle 

 (Aquila chrysaetus). 



A S this bird is one of the rarest of our 

 New England fauna^ I felt very fortu- 

 nate in being able to find its nest. The 

 following is copied from my diary of 1876 : 

 North Conway (White Mts.), N. H., 

 July 6. — As I had been told by the far- 

 mers around the town, tliat there was an 

 Eagle's nest about four miles off, I deter- 

 mined to go and see if I could get a shot at 

 the adult birds, and this morning T set out 

 early towards "White-horse Ledge," an 

 enormous cliff nearly 800 feet high, and ar- 

 rived at the summit at about ten o'clock. 

 This was the ledge where they said the nest 



was, but on what part, nobody could tell. 

 The upper part of the surface of the ledge 

 was very rounded, and 1 found it quite easy 

 to descend nearly 150 feet. I had come 

 down this far, and was walking along a 

 broad shelf under cover of some hard pine 

 trees that seemed to grow out of the rock 

 itself, and enjoying the view of the valley of 

 the Saco River, as that stream wound from 

 the Crawford Notch, before me, when sud- 

 denly I was startled by hearing the sharp 

 cry of tlie Eagle, sounding from in front of 

 me, something like the bark of a small dog. 

 I looked, and there sure enough was the 

 bird, flying as it seemed, straight for me, 

 but presently it swerved and flying along 

 the face of the ledge, alit on a narrow shelf 

 about two long gun-shots from me. As 

 the bird touched the rock, what was my 

 surprise to see two small Eagles, about the 

 size of a good large hen, flap and tumble 

 out of what seemed to me a large platform 

 of sticks, which was nearly on the edge of 

 the shelf. I immediately tried to get near- 

 er, and ascended to a shelf above the nest, 

 where I could have a good view of it, but 

 in so doing I alarmed the old bird, which 

 after circling around me, and giving me one 

 long shot, kept out of range. I then ex- 

 amined the nest, and as well as I could 

 make out at this distance, it was about four 

 feet across and built of large sticks. It con- 

 tained two young, fully fledged and about 

 ready to fly. All about the nest were scat- 

 tered feathers, fur and bones. There were 

 no shelves near the nest, and no way of get- 

 ting down to it without being lowered by 

 ropes. About a week after this I again 

 visited the nest, with companions, but the 

 young had flown, and I saw no more of 

 them. Last summer I again visited the 

 nest, but it was not occupied. Only those 

 who are collectors can know how disappoint- 

 ed I was at not being able to secure the 

 efrss. C. Alger Hawes. 



The House Sparrows have already be- 

 gun their nests, and early broods may be 

 anticipated. 



