300 
N£STS AND EGGS OF 
fectly round, sucli as we sometimes see in the Wood Pewee’s lichen-clad 
home, but are somewhat eccentric in contour. The same irregularity is 
usually a conspicuous feature of the inside. In external diameter they are 
nearly four inches, and in length vary from one and a half to two, one 
side being sometimes a half inch thicker tlian the other, not an accidental 
occurrence, but probably the result of design, due, no doubt, to the posi- 
tion of the nest upon the branch, the thicker part looking outwardly 
where exposure is the greater. The depression is two and a half inches 
wide, and the depth usually but a half, but varying from that to as much 
as an inch. In the Plate it is represented natural in size, and saddled 
upon a horizontal branch of the live oak, a short distance in advance of 
the builders. 
The eggs, two or three in number, are of an oblong oval shape, and 
vary from a greenish-white to a lavender and a grayish-white ground- 
color, and are rather strongly marked with small, distinct spots of divers 
shades of brown, interspersed with fine dottings of slate, which are pretty 
uniformly diffused over the surface, although most abundant about the 
larger extremity. The distribution of these spots jDresents some marked 
variations, but, according to our experience, a uniformity prevails in eggs 
of the same clutch. A set of three before us shows the following meas- 
urements : .94 by .69, .94 by .68 and .93 by .68. Incubation begins imme- 
diately after the eggs are laid, according to Mr. Evermann, and is the 
exclusive duty of the female for about fourteen days. 
The young male partakes of the coloration of both parents, but 
the adult is a uniform lustrous black, the monotony of which is in a 
measure relieved by large white patches upon the wings, most of the inner 
web of each primary feather, excepting the first, showing this latter color. 
The female is brown, the white on the wings being much restricted, or 
obsolete. Their entire length is about seven and a half inches, wing three 
and three-fifths, and tail four and a quarter. 
