Oct. 1886.] 



AND 00 



157 



moss, entirely concealing the sticks used in build- 

 ing. Eggs taken out of nest with small bag tied 

 to the end of my fishing pole. Both birds show- 

 ing fight." I did not wonder at the kites showing 

 when I tried to blow the egg, as incubation was 

 so far advanced that the young birds were nearly 

 dry in the egg. They would have hatched in the 

 next three days. I- drilled a one-eighth inch hole 

 in the eggs, and putting them in a box, hole 

 downwards, I set the box on a bed of the "Texas 

 Cutting Ant" and they finished the cleaning pro- 

 cess during the next twenty-four hours. I have 

 saved many sets of eggs of hawks and owls in 

 this manner. 



The set, as is usual, contained two eggs, meas- 

 uring 1.85x1.47 and 1.79x1.43. Ground color 

 was dirty white (probably stained,) and irregular- 

 ly marked with spots and blotches of dull brown 

 — in the smaller egg tending to form a ring 

 around the smaller end. I have heard of a set of 

 three being taken in the Colorado Eiver bottoms, 

 but can get no particulars. I have a record of 

 thirteen nests having been found containing eggs 

 or young, and in only one instance — a nest with 

 three young — was there more than two eggs or 

 young in the nest. Can it be that Audubon de- 

 pended upon hearsay in stating that four to six 

 was the number ol eggs in a set ? Very often the 

 boys whom I employ to collect tell me that they 

 have found nests of the Eed-bellied Hawk with 

 four or five eggs ; those of the Turkey Buzzard 

 with three to four eggs; and Swallow-tailed 

 Kite with five eggs ; but I notice when I require 

 them to authenticate the sets taken for me, those 

 large sets fail to appear. I have been making in 

 quiries in other portions of the State about this 

 species, and in a letter lately received from Mr. 

 E. T. Dumble, Secretary of the Texas State Geo- 

 logical and Scientific Society, he says: ''The 

 Swallow-tailed Kite arrives here early in the 

 spring, leaving late in the fall. No nest has bean 

 observed with more than two eggs^ Tiie italics are 

 mine. 



The Swallow-tailed Kite is an abundant sum- 

 mer resident in Mr. Dumble's locality, Houston, 

 Texas, and everywhere else along the timbered 

 portions of the coast country, consequently he 

 can be accepted as an authority. 



I have made arrangements with collectors in 

 three counties to collect the eggs of this Kite, and 

 we will see what another year will bring forth. 



[The above paper is of far more than ordinary ^ 

 interest and value. It gives the experiences of a 

 practical collector who has given much time and 

 thought to the subject, and who speaks from his 

 own experience. 



ere taken in this county the present 

 r S. B. Ladd, of West Chester, and 

 his cabinet. The set of four has a 

 glossy ground thickly spotted with a 

 brown, so profusely laid on as to al- 

 e the white. They are very large, 

 liar shape, being nearly of the same 

 a ends. They measure .58x.73 ; .59x 

 I • 60x 71 The set of five are con- 

 maller-giving the following dimen- 

 .66;.55x.67; .52x.G8 ; .52x.67 ; .53x.67. 

 exquisitely marked-the greater end 

 ickly covered with a rich brown as to 

 reath, and the coloring also extends to 

 • end with some fainter marks of a hlac 

 ley exceed in beauty the eggs of any 

 ever saw. Both nests were taken on 

 ;ed hillsides, and the nests correspond 

 heretofore described, 

 e foregoing instances of the nestmg ot 

 together with others that have come 

 uotice, we may fix a few of the char- 

 labits of this interesting Warbler, 

 ways nests on the ground, generally on 

 Iside, in the woods. 



ream of water, or an adjacent swamp, 

 e a desirable condition. 



nest is invariably lined with the red 

 dks of the Hair Moss, {Polytrichium). 



/in Mr. Thomas H. Jackson's interesting and valuable 

 article on the Worm-eating Warbler, {Hdmintlwtherus 

 ■ vermivorus,) in the October number of The Ornithologist 

 AND OoLoaisT, a Texatioas typographical error occurred in 

 the last line of his paper ; where he is made to say "the 

 usual nest complement is four eggs," whereas it should 

 read: "the usual nest complement is Jive eggs." 

 It sliouia also be stated that in recording the 



A. 



XI HilUUlU »iOV/ "t- Quu-i.--" o.^- o 4a ^^'"^ 



ments of this species Mr. Jackson gave the width first in y -5s, 

 every inaji 



