56 
General Notes. 
tioned nest was found, placed on a drooping branch of an apple tree fif- 
teen feet above the ground. The species was seen and heard singing 
about six miles west of Camden, New Jersey, in June, and again in 
July at the same place ; is it not just therefore to suppose this pair had 
a nest near the spot ? 
Worm-eating Warblers were noticed in full song in the vicinity of Mar- 
pie, Delaware County, Pa., as early as the last week in April, and w'hilst 
on a collecting trip in May I procured three males and a female in south- 
ern Chester County, and on dissecting the latter I was surprised to find in 
her oviduct a partly shelled egg. On the 16th of June, 1881, a ramble in 
the woods resulted in finding a brood of young of this species scarcely 
able to fly; one of them is now in my collection and another just missed 
the same claim to immortality. The old birds were exceedingly solici- 
tous but so wary that three shots failed to procure either of them. 
Near Camden, New Jersey, I procured a female Worm-eating Warbler in 
the latter part of July, 1880; its actions and the time of year caused 
me to infer it had young near by. — Samuel N. Rhoades, Haddonjield , 
N. J. 
Cuckoos laying in the Nests of other Birds. — As far as my 
knowledge extends, there are only four instances known, in which the 
eggs of Coccygus americanus have been found in other bird’s nests, 
namely, the two given by Nuttall, in nests of Catbird and one by Langdon 
in Robin’s, and that mentioned by Ridgway in Coccygus e ryth rophth almus. 
I was not a little astonished to find last Saturday, June 4, 1881, an egg of 
the Yellow-billed Cuckoo in a Catbird’s nest, and near by another one in 
the nest of a Black-billed Cuckoo. The Catbird’s nest contained only 
one egg of its rightful owner; another Catbird’s egg was found broken on 
the ground. The Cuckoo’s egg was fresh, but the Catbird’s egg was in- 
cubated. The nest of the Black-billed Cuckoo contained besides the para- 
sitic 'egg, which was fresh, two eggs, both incubated, but one much more 
than the other, the embryo being fully developed. The parent bird (jCoc- 
cygus erythrophthalmus ) was sitting, but left when the tree was ascended 
and stationed itself on a near tree to watch our movements. 
The circumstances attending the discovery of these two eggs make me 
think that such cases of parasitic Cuckoo’s eggs might not be so very ex- 
ceptional and still evade the watchful eye of the collecting odlogist or 
of the observing ornithologist. I went out to look for nests of Empid- 
onax acadicus. I took my nephew, a lad of fifteen, with me to assist in 
taking down nests from trees. In passing a thicket by the wayside, he 
looked in and immediately called out, “ a big nest, blue eggs.” Judging 
from the surroundings, I replied without taking the trouble to look at the 
thing, a a Catbird’s nest; let it alone.” We passed on and after a little 
'while a Catbird crossed our way. He saw the bird and I told him that this 
was the Catbird whose nest he had just found. He wondered that a bird 
of this, size lays such large eggs. Inquiring how large the egg was, he 
showed the size with thumb and index. I smiled and said it was not ex- 
