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OKNITIIOLOGIST 
[Vol. 7-No. 23 
of its beauties as they really are. And 
such a j)lace for pinieoliue birds as well as 
others. We will know more about them 
before I get away from here. Late as the 
season is for eggs I picked up a good many 
since I struck the pine timber, which I did 
about 150 miles east of here, and among 
them some very excellent things, at least 
two species new to me. I shall have 
more to say in the future, after I get prop¬ 
erly settled down. I am satisfied that I 
can spend at least two years here with 
profit to myself and others as well. I will 
write up my observations made on the tri]) 
before a great while. 
What has become of J. N. Clark; and— 
—Dr. Wm. Wood? It was hard for the Dr. 
to give uj) the familiar numbers of the 
1859 catalogue. ’Twas a general upset¬ 
ting to many. 
Key to N. A. Bikds — D. Elliott Cones 
is hard at work on his new edition of the 
“ Key to North American Birds,” and is in 
ho]jes that it wull be ready in time for the 
collector in early Sju-ing. 
“ The Vertebrates of the Adirondack 
Reoion, North Eastern New York, by Clin¬ 
ton Hart Meriam, IM. D., of Locust Grove. 
N. Y .106 pj). Royal Octavo, paper cover, 
wide margin. We have been favored with 
a copy of this work from which we have 
derived a jileasure that nothing ecjual to a 
good book on Natural Science can give. 
Mr. Meriam uses the English language 
“for all it is w’orth." and what he does not 
know about a region he has studied is 
hardly worthy of investigation. Like Wil¬ 
son and Audubon, he writes for the mil¬ 
lion and not spccialbj for the handful of 
scientists. Self is entirely forgotten and 
there are scientific tenns enough but not 
one to spare. The naturalist will never tire 
of reading it. 
But let us not forget the printer. L. S. 
Foster, 35 Pine St., N. Y., who in this 
work has tunied off one-of the best jiaper 
bound pamjihlets we have ever seen devo¬ 
ted to any subject. 
Eggs in a Set. 
While out collecting this season found 
a Pew’ee’s nest in a culvert, three feet by 
two. and about eight feet from the en¬ 
trance. I passed the culvert a number of 
times, but the last time I threw a stone 
in. and what was my surprise to see a 
Pew’ee fly out. On entering I found the 
nest, which contained four fresh Pewee's 
eggs and two eggs of the Cow Bird. Is 
not this a cpieer place for the Cow Bird to 
lay ? Also found a Black-throated Bunt¬ 
ing’s nest with three eggs, fresh, and four 
Cow Bird's eggs. Two of the Cow Bird's 
eggs were exactly alike in color and mark¬ 
ings and shape, and but very little difter- 
ence iu size. There is not the least doubt 
in my mind but what two of the eggs 
were laid by the same bird. Found some 
twenty nests of the Rose-breasted Gros¬ 
beak. and in every instance but four, found 
the full set to be five. Also Wood 
Pewee’s nests, with four and five eggs 
in a set. I also got twenty-three eggs 
from one pair of Bewick’s Wrens this 
season—two sets of seven each, one set of 
five, and one set of four. The birds laid 
once more, but I was ashamed to rob 
them, so I let them raise their brood of 
six. Also found a nest of the Nashville 
AVarbler, with five fresh eggs. The nest 
was on the ground at the foot of a black¬ 
berry stalk and was very large for the 
size of the bird, being very much larger 
than the Indigo’s. The bottom was 
leaves, the nest was made of dried rotten 
grasses, weeds, etc., and was lined with 
grass and a few horse hairs. The eggs 
are of a jiinkish tinge, with a few puqilish 
and reddish spots scattered over the whole 
egg. The eggs are tlie smallest I have 
ever seen, except those of the Humming 
Birdj b(‘ing somewhat smaller than tlie 
Gold Finches’. As my eggs are arranged 
for the fair, I can’t take measurements. 
—Philo Smith, Jr., St. Ijoui^, Mo. 
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