ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 
7 
circle the greater ends are drawn numerous wavy lines of black, 
precisely like the characteristic pen-markings of some of the Oriole’s 
eggs. With an extensive series of specimens before me, I am led 
to the inevitable conviction that eggs of D. maculosa are in many 
cases indistinguishable from those of D. virens, I), pennsylvanicxi., 
and D. discolor ; and an examination of an equal number of au- 
thentic eggs of the other Dendroecce would, I am satisfied, result in 
adding many more to this list. In the eggs of each of the above- 
named species there is an almost endless variation, and many sets 
are consequently quite unique, but the type — if, indeed, any can 
be established — finds equally near approaches among them all. 
Nests may, however, in most cases be relied upon, especially when 
procured from proximate localities. 
In the case of the young, both before and after they leave the 
nest, this bird displays no exceptional traits. Both old and young, 
when the latter have become able to take care of themselves, 
join the immense congregations of mingled Warblers, Wrens, Tit- 
mice, Sparrows, and Woodpeckers, which collect in the northern 
forests in early August, to be dispersed — most of them south- 
ward — by the first frosts of September. 
In Eastern Massachusetts this species occurs as a fall migrant 
from September 21 to October 30, but it is never seen at this 
season in anything like the numbers which pass through the same 
section in spring, and the bulk of the migration must follow a more 
westerly route. Its haunts while with us in the autumn are some- 
what different from those which it affects during its northward 
journey. We now find it most commonly on hillsides, among 
scrub-oaks and scattered birches, and in company with such birds 
as the Yellow-Rump {Bendroeca coronata) and the Black-Poll [D, 
striata). A dull, listless troop they are, comparatively sombre of 
plumage, totally devoid of song, and apparently intent only upon 
the gratification of their appetites. It seems, at first thought, 
strange that the birds, at a season when all the rest of Nature puts 
on its most gorgeous coloring, should array themselves in their 
dullest ; but it must be borne in mind that many of them played 
their part before these brilliant leaves had burst their buds, and 
now, like ushers and orchestra, whose duty has been performed, 
they stand aside among the audience, and w’atch the shifting 
glories of the final transformation-scene. So let us leave them 
until, attired in fullest costume, they come again to herald, with 
overtures of joyous song, the rising of the curtain on a new year. 
