A Runt Egg of the Black-Throated 
Bunting. 
BY A. C. HAMMOND, JR. 
Seeing the article on “ Runt Eggs and Their 
Causes, in the December number of the O. & 
< O., I thought it would not be inappropriate to 
give an instance of a runt egg of my experience. 
On June 29, 1880, I fonnd the nest of a Black- 
throated Bunting (Spiza americana), which con- 
tained four fresh eggs. The nest was composed 
of dry sage grass and was placed in some 
blackberry vines. The patch of briars was only 
j about fifteen or twenty feet through, and was 
in an open sage field ; but several nests of this 
species were found in this patch of briars, in 
some of which was incubation begun. The nest 
in question was about two feet from the ground. 
Three of the eggs were unusually large. They 
measured .93x.65; ,93x.65; and . 90 x. 65. The 
average measurement of the eggs of this species 
is .80 x 60. 
The fourth egg, which is the small one, 
measures .65 x .50, which is far below the aver- 
age measurement, and much below the meas- 
urements of the other eggs. 
This runt was most probably caused by the 
; exaustion of the bird in laying the three large 
eggs. The eggs are perfect in their shape, with 
the exception of being a little more elongated 
than the ordinary egg of this species. 
Q.&O. XIII. Apr. 1888 p.riO. 
The Black-throated Bunting ( Euspiza americana). — On page 45 of 
the present volume of the Bulletin reference is had to the finding the nest 
and eggs of this bird in Medford, in June, 1877, and the remark is made 
that but few instances are known of this bird nesting in Massachusetts. 
Without disputing this statement, I would mention that in 1833 and 1834 
this bird was by no means uncommon in Cambridge in all the (then un- 
occupied) region around the Botanical Garden and thence to West Cam- 
bridge and Charlestown. It may be found now every summer on the high 
promontory making the northeast corner of Hingham, known as Planter’s 
Hill and World’s-End, lying between Weir River and the harbor. Men- 
tion is made of its breeding in that locality in “North American Birds” 
(Yol. II, page 67, lines 2 and 3), and since then its presence has been noted 
every season when search has been made. In order to verify its presence 
in this its favorite locality, this summer I made a successful exploration, 
June 30, in company with my nephew, Willard S. Brewer. We found 
one pair, with young, which the female was busily engaged in feeding 
with small grasshoppers, while the male was intent upon his quaint 
serenade on a near heap of stones. They were quite tame and unsus- 
picious, and permitted a very close approach. We saw two other males, 
evidently in the neighborhood of their respective families, but the heat 
compelled us to desist from further investigations. In the same locality 
we found Spizella pusilla, Pocecetes gramineus, and Melospiza melodia, but 
the Buntings were present in at least equal numbers, as we heard the 
notes of other males besides the three We fully identified. But a fierce 
sun, with the glass at 90° in the shade, was not favorable to a full census 
of all the pairs inhabiting this remote region. We saw enough to satisfy 
us of its actual presence in considerable numbers. — T. M. Brewer, Bos- 
ton, Mass. Bull. N,0«0» 3, Oct., 1878, p. 
