24 
ORNITHOLOGIST 
' 'i 
[Vol. 6-No. 3. 
evidence of more eggs lia\4ng been laid, 
the eggs were lying with the small ends 
resting in the center, The center of the 
nest being deep the eggs had the appear¬ 
ance of standing npon their small end, the 
large ends pointing slightly toward the 
margin of the nest. Being tender hearted 
(then) he only took one egg and ^dsited the 
nest very often afterward. The birds were 
extremely shy and with the utmost stealth 
4ie ccmld not approach the \icinity of the 
nest without the parent taking flight and 
settling down some distance away, appear¬ 
ing nervously anxious, piping continuously 
and endeavoring to draw his attention 
from the nest. The eggs differ slightly 
from those described by Dr. Brewer, being 
shorter and the spots partially confluent, a 
few of these decided “blotches.” 
Winter Wren.— Mr. Banks found on 
June 17th, 1879, the nest of a Winter 
Wren with the parent on it. It was par¬ 
tially concealed by a windfall, being placed 
just where the moss on the tree and the 
grass met. It was composed entirely of 
dried pine “needles,” loosely laid together 
and resting against the moss and gmss. 
There were 4 eggs in the nest, apparently 
but newly laid. 
Robin’s Nest Pensile.— On May 1.5th, 
1880, Mr. Banks cbscovered a Robin’s nest 
jiartially pensile. The back of the nest 
leaned againsl the limb of a tree, and 
pieces of grass were woven into the nest 
and over the limb. 
Robin’s Nest with water. —Mr. James 
^lorrison of this city, found a Robin’s nest 
last spring with a quantity of water in it. 
It was mid-day and there had been no rain 
the night previous, nor for several days 
before. When lu-st observed the female 
was inside putting in the mud lining. On 
visiting the nest next day the dry grass 
lining had been put in luid the bottom of 
the nest was very wet. 
Solitary Sandpiper. — Mr. Harold Oil- 
bert, one of our best infonued embryo 
oniithologists. while shooting at Hampton 
last fall flushed a Solitary Sandpiper, w’uich 
flew' a short distance and on to the branch 
of a dead tree. Never having seen such 
performance before, he called for an encore 
and three successive times this bird went 
through this same unorthodox maneuver. 
May this not have been the Green Sand¬ 
piper we read about ? 
M. Chamberlain, Saint John, N. B. 
-- 
Recent Publications. 
“Illustrations of Nests and Eggs.” The 
next w'ork in order is by Ernest lugersoll, 
entitled “A History of the Nests and Eggs 
of American Birds,” which is sold at the 
low price of fifty cents per number. Each 
number contains twenty-four pages, and 
two plates, and is printed on good paper. 
It is in Royal 8vo. form, a very convenient 
size for the student. In the circular sent 
out tw'o letters are given, one from Dr. 
Elliott Coues, and one from J. A. Allen. 
Both of these letters should be read with 
cure. There are endorsements from the 
”Philadelphia Sunday Post," and "New York 
Evening Post,also "New York Tribune" What 
the Ethtors of these papers know about 
nests and eggs we are not even prepared 
to hazard a guess. We believe Mr. Inger i 
soil published this work before he was 1 
fully prepared, fearing some one else wf.uld 
occupy the field. Mr. Ingersoll uses a 
facile pen and is thoroughly able lo please 
as a magazine writer where the ability to 
please is of more consequence than scien¬ 
tific accuracy. The plates in this work are j 
entirely worthless for all practical pur- ■ 
poses. We doubt if Mr. Ingersoll could 
identify his own plates, much less the eggs 
they pretend to represent. There is con¬ 
siderable valuable matter in the work [ 
which will be found between quotation j 
marks and some where the quotation mai ks | 
seem to have been forgotten. As a work 
it had much better never have been juib- 
lished and its publisher displayed good 
judgment in disposing of it. We hope 
the purchaser will not continue it until he 
can fully realize the magnitude of his un¬ 
dertaking. 
