Allen on Nest and Eggs of the Cerulean Warbler. 25 



^ This appears to cover all cases, and, unless something different is 

 sho"wnp~4± seems to me to be fair to consider that, in regard to tjie 

 spotting pigments, a single bird has but one color, which m^y be 

 varied acoordiSg to the way in which it is deposited on the^ell, — 

 either with respeist to the thickness or position in deptn from sur- 

 face of the deposit,\r and. even may itself vary tempOTarily among 

 birds of the same spebies, owing to a temporary^ondition of the 

 system. \ 



In regard to the groundHMit of the egg^^hich in many cases is 

 colored, it can hardly be acooih^ted for ^ the same principle. Of 

 course those eggs which have a »hrfce or even a soiled ground-color 

 offer no objection ; neither do tlK5sfeswhich have a colored ground 

 but are unspotted, as we might justly^y that the remarks in re- 

 gard to there being but one^oloring matW still apply. But there 

 are certain eggs which are spotted on a oolos^ ground, and which 

 make it necessary ta^count for the ground-colsr in some different 

 way, or else to widen the theory, and to allow tRe^few cases to 

 enter as exceptions. As to which of these two hypothfes^ is more 

 apt to hejifie correct one, I am not as yet prepared to Msqrd an 

 opiniprl^but am at present pursuing a course of chemical exp&ri- 

 mems by which I hope to settle the question. 



NEST AND EGGS OF THE CERULEAN WARBLES. 



BY J. A. ALLEN., 



The Museum of Comparative Zoology has recently received a 

 nest and four eggs of the Cerulean Warbler {Dendroeca carulea), 

 collected at East Penfield, Munroe County, N. Y., June 7, 1878, by 

 Mr. P. S. Fuller. The female was shot as she left the eggs, which 

 were nearly fresh. The nest was placed in the fork of a small ash- 

 tree, about twenty-five feet from the ground. It is neatly and com- 

 pactly built, consisting externally of fine dry grasses of an ashen 

 tint, bound firmly together with spider's silk, to which are affixed a 

 few bits of whitish lichen ; it is lined with strips of bark and fine 

 grasses, of a reddish-brown color. The nest is thus gray externally 

 and brown within. It measures as follows: inside diameter, 2 



