488. NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. ; 
arise. Different collectors prefer different methods of doing this. Per- 
haps the best is to mark the egg, on the samé side as the holes, witha 
and the number, referring to the collector’s note-book, which should con- 
tain full data in respect to the identification, time and place where se- 
cured, etc. Both the English and scientific name should be given, Many 
may be preserved in a neat and secure ie They should be kept be- 
neath a glass-case, free from the rays of the sun, which cause the natural 
tint or “bloom” to fade and loose its aleea The student of nature 
cannot find a more interesting branch of scientific investigation, than that 
which pertains to those objects which are presented to his vision from 
day to day. The habits of the birds of North America, and their manner 
of building their nests and rearing their young, affords an opportunity of 
careful and minute study. The song-birds of New England are nott 
Icast of its many attractions, and the student who will make himself more 
conversant with their oddities, will find a world of beauty opening before 
` his astonished gaz - METCALF. 
“ DWARF THRUSH” AGAIN. —In Tas NATURALIST, for June of this 
year, as E. A. Samuels gives a notice of the “Dwarf Thrush (Zwrdus 
nanus) in Massachusetts,” the specimen referred to being taken in Wal- 
tham, by Mr. L: L. Thaxter. In the S number Mr. T. Martin 
i 
this species only in its rather unusually small size, and in ¢ 
se characters of immaturity. After Mr. Samuels’s uae of it ap- 
. Thaxter for the 
Scie and through his kindness was enabled to give it a re eéxa amina e 
tion. The result was the entire nra Se of my previous conclusion: | 
Mr. Samuels, it will be observed, only compares it with Palla oe 4 
am sure he would not have done had he also compared it wl with 7. Sy 
sonii. The specimen mentioned by Mr. Trippe, according to meh 
n of it, does not appear to differ much from grr specime Mr. 
Patlasii, though a as he observes, from t e description 
Samuels gives of his. As to T. nanus, if it be a is species, 
specimen diverts by Mr. one might perhaps be referred to it, the 
T. nanus has been supposed to be a western species, representing on ‘‘ S 
Pacific slope the T. Pallasii of the Atlantic. Ina paper (now 1B in press) 


