THE OOLOGIST. 



23 



home. Some times this is lined with 

 fine grasses or hair; riiore often it 

 is practically unlined and the eggs lie 

 on the soft dust which the bird has 

 scratched loose for this purpose. In 

 such a nest as this, the collector will 

 find, nine times out of ten, at least, 

 three eggs. Rarely four are laid, and 

 I have heard of one set of five — which 

 may possibly have been the product 

 of two females. I suppose I have ex- 

 amined something like two hundred 

 sets of eggs of this bird, (mostly in 

 the collections of other oologists) dur- 

 ing the years since I came to take an 

 interest in the lark, and have never 

 seen a set of more than four. In- 

 deed, there are as many full sets of 

 two as of four. 



These eggs are like those of the 

 rest of the family that I have seen in 

 general outline and plan of markings, 

 though there are usually minor differ- 

 ences of shade and spotting, which 

 none but an interested collector would 

 notice. I have sets from three or 

 four of the other species of horned 

 larks found in North America which 

 I have very lately obtained, and some 

 of which are easily distinguishable 

 from sets of chrysolaema in my cab- 

 inet, while others seem to be identi- 

 cal species. Southern and middle- 

 western eggs are more nearly like 

 those from this section than are 

 those of northern and eastern birds. A 

 comparison of a large series would 

 doubtless be of interest, but the eggs 

 of any and all the larks seem to be 

 very hard to obtain — at least this 

 has been the case with me. 



The nesting time of the larks in 

 this latitude is as variable as that 

 of the sparrows that frequently breed 

 in much the same sort of country. 

 I have seen full-fledged young in 

 March, April, May, June and July. 

 Eggs have been taken in this coun- 

 ty in January, but the most common 

 time for collectors hereabouts to go 



afield after the little gray egirs is in 

 March. If the spring is "early" of 

 course one must take time by the fore- 

 lock a bit and get out betimes if he 

 expects to get fresh eggs. The saving 

 of an incubated lark's egg is a job for 

 a Job, for the shells are like wet pa- 

 per in their tenderness, indeed, the 

 fresh eggs are hard enough to save 

 without adding the difficulties of age. 

 HARRY H. DUNN. 



I found the Bluebird is picking 

 holes in very, very soft maples in 

 the swamps here. I found two sets 

 of blue eggs and one set of Albino 

 eggs, all in this way. The holes were 

 all newly picked. 



I never got in such a family of 

 Yellow Warblers as I did this sum- 

 mer. Yellow Warbler's nests were 

 so thick I couldn't count them. 



What would you call the set of 

 Cuckoos with two of the Black-billed 

 and one of the Yellow-billed; also 

 one egg of the Black-billed and two 

 of the Yellow-billed? 



E. S. COOMBS. 



These mixed Cuckoo sets are some- 

 what common. Have seen several 

 this season. — Editor. 



Holboell's Grebe in Philadelphia 

 County, Penn. 



By RICHARD F. MILLER. 



On February 10th, 1904, my uncle, 

 Mr. Albert Miller, captured on his 

 farm at Sandiford, this county, amid 

 the celery bank, a female Holboell's 

 Grebe (Colymbus holboellii). 



It was not easily captured, being 

 unwounded, and ran surprisingly 

 fast for such an ungainly bird, inces- 

 santly screaming as it ran. 



Uncle confined it in the large hogs- 

 head (used to wash truck in) in the 

 truck shed, where it lived for four 

 days. It refused meat, worms, and 

 all sorts of vegetable food. Streams 



