victims to the taxidermist. Will some one who 
has kept a record of the sex of the specimens 
that have passed through his hands for a series 
of years, please send a note to the O. & O. as to 
this? 
The breeding date must be a very uncertain 
one — that is, its limit in point of time is very- 
wide. I have detected young as early as Feb- 
ruary 8th, and a sitting bird on May 8th, that 
had not hatched on the 21st of that month. 
The period of incubation is also probably over 
four weeks. Spy glass observations are not 
very accurate means of determining a fact of 
this nature, but I think that I have seen a bird 
upon the nest for thirty-two consecutive days, 
my point of observation being a mile and a 
quarter by the Coast Survey Chart. The nest 
was for many years in plain sight from my 
door, and I was enabled to watch the move- 
ments and positions of the birds foi hours at a 
time. And here let me note that the real 
“spread eagle,” or, as it might be called the 
“ dollar” position, was frequently assumed by 
the parent birds while standing upon an upper 
limb and watching the young consume their 
food. It is a position that is often ridiculed, 
but proves nevertheless to be a natural one. 
The other day I found a new Eagle’s nest. 
How much pleasure is expressed to me iu those 
few words ! Although I cannot turn to a well- 
filled cabinet of egg-shells, and write a page or 
two on comparative measurements, shapes and 
shades, I have found a new nest. Why the 
mere fact gives me so much pleasure 1 cannot 
say. I can never hope to obtain from it any 
oologieal treasures. I certainly do not intend 
to “ lay” for the occupants with my rifle. But 
the same old, glad, joyous thrill comes back 
every time. There was the big unmistakable 
mass half hidden in the green top of a giant 
pine tree, and it was the first time I had seen it. 
The sky was blue, the wind was soft, the sea 
was silvery and gentle. I looked and saw what 
I had often seen before, but still there is another 
happy spot that cannot be effaced from that 
strange thing we call our life. 
[After Mr. Hoxie’s sarcasm, we “ closet 
oologists” (as they delight to call us), must 
needs hide our heads, but may I be permitted 
to mention that the breeding dates of this bird, 
even in South Carolina, are probably much 
earlier than he thinks? 
Two sets of eggs of this species (each con- 
taining two), in the far from “well-filled” 
cabinet of the present writer, were collected 
respectively at Tampa, Florida, on December 
3,1884, and Merritt’s Island, Florida, on Decem- 
ber 13, 1883. It is therefore exceedingly prob- 
able that their laying commences in South Car- 
olina much before February, as stated by Mr. 
Iloxie. — J. P. N.] 
Q. & O. XIII . May. 18 86 p. 7?-7Y 
New Eng. Rapfcores. Number Egg s in. 
a set. F.H. Carpenter. 
Bald Eagle, (Halixtus leucocephalus) . 
18 sets of 3 
J 
O.&O. XII. Oct. 1887 P. 167 
correct to say that the number in each set was 
two; while many of the books say three and 
even four. 
3d. The size of the eggs. The average is 
2.76 x2.14, while the size given in all the books 
at my command (except Ridgway’s last) is 3.00 
x2.50, or thereabouts. 
4th. The shane of the ee’g’S is far from 
)LOGTST. 73 
correct to.-gay that the number in each set was 
two; while many of the books say three and 
even four. 
3d. The size of the eggs. The average is 
2.76x2.14, while the size given in all the books 
■ at my command (except Ridgway’s last) is 3.00 
> x2.50, or thereabouts. 
4th. The shape of the eggs is far from 
i “nearly spherical” as given in most of the 
t books. 
5tli. The slight variation in size of these 
, forty-seven eggs. The length: average, 2.76; 
extremes, 2.98 and 2.46. The breadth: average, 
2.14; extremes, 2.26 and 1.96. It seems to mo 
this is an exceedingly small variation in eggs 
of this size. 
6th. The distance of the nest from the 
ground is constant enough to attract attention. 
The distance was always measured. 
Having thus put my conclusions before my 
premises, in liopeg of making the latter more 
interesting, I now give the data: — 
No. 1. Dec. 16, 1886. 2.70x2.16; 2.84x2.20. 
Nonrlv batched ; height of nest, 56 feet, 
tive and plentiful Ilian on ahy previous 
this winter. Black-capped Chickadees were 
very common, and the crows that stay here 
the year round had received some noisy rein- 
forcements from the South. I started up a few 
Ruffed Grouse, and occasionally saw, on a 
stump or dead tree, a Hairy or Downy Wood- 
pecker, or a Wliite-bellied Nuthatch, while from ■ 
the top of a dead pine I secured a handsome 
specimen of the Great Northern Shrike, but the 
birds I came after were minus. The walking 
was very fatiguing, there being two feet of 
snow on the ground, and although I searched 
the woods over carefully, I did not see a single 
Pine Grosbeak. As I was returning home dis- 
couraged and thinking what a wild goose chase 
Brief Newsy Notes. 
Bald Eagle’s Egg. — Mr. Snowdon How- 
land, Newport, B. I., reports receiving 
from his collector in Florida a single egg 
of the Bald Eagle. It was taken from one 
of those immense Yellow Pines common 
in the South. The nest was sixty feet up 
with few limbs to assist the climber. The 
nest was four feet by three feet and con- 
tained but one egg, which the collector 
took not caring to repeat the climb. 
O 
O 
l 5 
3 
N . 
ft 
