OF VIRGINIA 67 
becoming less common each year, until a bag of from four 
to eight birds is considered an exceptionally good day. 
Eggs are deposited with us the first week in March, while 
a female with young riding on her back has been noted 
on March 22nd. The nest is a slight depression in the 
ground, on some high spot bordering the swamp or marsh, 
lined with dry leaves. The eggs number four, a glossy 
buff-eream ground, spotted and blotched over the entire 
surface with a light shade of brown, and fainter blotches 
of lavender. The eggs are blunt pyriform in shape, size, 
1.50x1.14. Only one brood a season. J found them 
abundant in western Virginia as high as 3,500 feet 
altitude. 
GENUS CATOPTROPHORUS. 
[258]. Catoptrophorus semrpalmatus semipalmatus. 
(Gmelin). Wallet, 
Raxee.—North and South America. Breeds from 
Virginia (formerly Nova Scotia) south to Florida and 
the Bahamas; winters from the Bahamas to Brazil and 
Peru; accidental in Bermuda and Europe. 
This was formerly a very abundant game bird all along 
our coast, often being found in numbers even on the lower 
shores of our large rivers and Chesapeake Bay. It is, 
however, fast becoming a bird of the past, and within a 
few years they will be considered a rare bird with our 
coast sportsmen. Being one of the earliest birds to lay, 
many are shot by the spring gunners after beiny mated 
and with eggs, a condition sure to diminish if not extermi- 
nate sooner or later any species of bird, no matter how 
