JAMES NEWTON BASKETT. gi 
the Grackles “grade toward the Crows,” as Dr. Coues has 
it, you may form an idea of what first aroused me. Again, 
within this same group is the Rusty Blackbird (Scolecophagus 
carolinus), with its sometimes scrawled, but often unscrawled 
egg, and its young with the breast streaked—hinting at a 
loose or at least arecent position. Here, too, is the Cowbird 
(Molothrus ater) and Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus), each 
with distinctly sparrow-like eggs—and sparrow-like charac- 
teristics generally, for that matter. 
The eggs of the Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) also 
varied so extensively, resembling the eggs of some other 
birds so strongly in both of their manifestations, that it oc- 
curred that here too might be hinted a double kinship. 
Certainly the coincidence mentioned by Dr. Coues of the 
close resemblance of its egg to that of the Night-hawk 
(Chordeiles virginianus) is purely a matter of chance; but 
the similarity of the other form to the eggs of the other 
grosbeaked Fringillide and the Tanagers (Zanagride) is 
more than correlated by resemblances in the birds them- 
selves. I have noticed that the kinship of a series of groups 
or genera is often thus indicated—if not always consecu- 
tively, at least with noticeable outcroppings here and there. 
It is generally admitted that a close affinity exists between 
the Owls (Strigidz) and the old group of Picariz, and the 
resemblance of the eggs in color, texture, etc. running 
through the Parrots, Cuckoos, Kingfishers, Swifts, and others, 
is at least suggestive. ‘The Owls are said to shade toward 
the Picarie through the Goatsuckers (Caprimulgide), and 
whether the white eggs of some of the latter typify the 
vestiges of the kinship may be one of the questions under 
suggestion. 
Few birds’ eggs are more variable than those of the Hawks 
—especially in the genus Buseo. Coming out from among the 
Herodiones by the way of the Secretary Bird (Serpentarius 
secretarius),we would naturally expect reversions in that direc- 
tion. The grounds of Hawks’ eggs are largely bluish or 
