THE OOLOQIST. M t 



137 



owls' eggs. As late as June 6 I climb- 

 ed to a perfectly fresh set of red- 

 shouldered hawk in our woods. To 

 further emphasize the unusual late- 

 ness of the season I may add that pur- 

 ple cypripedium had not opened here 

 June 5, yellow whippoorwills' shoes 

 were not budded, and white haw- 

 thorne only just coming into bloom. 

 But the painted ladies in the west 

 meadow were boldly flaunting their 

 freshly applied rouge. 



I found a set of Bartram's plover 

 at Lanman's chair when a small lad. 

 I can remember surprising a gang of 

 little boys blowing with pins a set of 

 fourteen sora rails' eggs which they 

 had taken from the summer reeds of 

 Rockwell's skating pond, while look- 

 ing for redwings' nests. Good climb- 

 ing boys used to shin up the tall ev- 

 ergreens on the Slater property and 

 bring down hats full of grackles' 

 eggs, excusing the theft on the round 

 that "crow blackbirds sucked robins' 

 eggs!" 



In some old collection in town are 

 still shown faded end-blown eggs of 

 crested flycatcher, nuthatch, wood pe- 

 wee and titmouse from the Acaademy 

 lot, oven bird from General Ely's 

 place, whippoorwill from Senator 

 Foster's orchard, oriole from Bliss 

 place, quail, grouse, woodcock and 

 mourning dove from the present golf 

 links, ohats, Maryland yellowthroats 

 larks, bobolinks, prairie and chest- 

 nut-sided warbler, and white-eyed 

 vireos from the Cobb lot, with ruby- 

 throats, rose-breasts, cuckoos, red- 

 starts, warbling and yellow-throated 

 greenlets from Backus hospital and 

 adjoining estates. 



Every boy was a self styled oolo- 

 gist in those olden days— "ool. ornith- 

 oletcoll" — but in these clays of school 

 bird-talks and Arbor day bird walks, 

 egg-collectors are few and far be- 

 tween. Let no timber be cut, and all 



brush be allowed to grow, and with 

 proper protection in our new park, 

 Rockwell's woods will continue to be 

 as of old the special haunts and fav- 

 orite breeding grounds for the big 

 raptores and every kind of song and 

 insectivorous bird found in southern 

 New England. 



C. L. Rawson. 

 Norwich, Conn. "Bulletin." 



Something to Think About. 



Friend Short: — 



Having read Mr. Peabody's letter 

 re. Gt Blue Heron I immediately 

 got busy and measured my series. I 

 have six sets, % Maine; 2-4, 1-5, Cal- 

 ifornia; and X A, 1-5 Colorado. 26 eggs 

 in all, and all "northern" taken. Care- 

 ful measurement gives the following 

 figures : 



Longest eggs: 2.67x1.69, Maine 1 ^ ; 

 2.66x1.76, % Calif. 



Shortest eggs: 2.37x1.84, 2.40x1.77, 

 % Colorado. 



Broadest eggs: 1.85x2.55, % Calif.; 

 1.85x2.48, % Colo. 



Narrowest eggs: 1.64x2.60, 1.69x 

 2.67, Vi Maine. 



Longest average sets: 2.60 Maine. 

 Shortest average set: 2.41, Calif. 

 Broadest average set: 1.82, Colorado. 

 Narrowest average set, 1.70, Maine. 

 Average of six sets, 2.50x1.78. 



The average length of the six sets 

 approaches the figures of Mr. Oliver 

 Davie, who says "average size 2.50x 

 1.50," but I've never seen an egg of 

 Ardea herodias as narrow as 1.50 in- 

 ches. 



In all that has appeared so far 

 there has been no atempt at explana- 

 tion of the difference in size between 

 Northern and Southern birds and 

 eggs, and the writer would like to air 

 some of his ideas on the subject. 



In the cases of the Bald Eagle, Red- 

 wing Blackbird and Crows, we find 



