74 The jYatai‘aiists' CoiiLpaidoit. 
of Grosbeaks that I have noticed here 
is the Blue Grosbeak ( Guirica co&rulea)^ 
which is seldom seen, being both rare 
and shy. A nest containing four eggs 
of, I believe, this speciesiwas found on 
August 12th, 1885. One of the eggs 
is in niv possession; it is light bluish- 
Avhite, and not quite as large as those 
of C. virginianus. The nest was in a 
peach tree and was built like that of 
the (Cardinal Grosbeak; the bird was 
not seen. The nest was found by a boy 
about seven miles from Austin. 
The Co,mmon (.’ row. ( Corvus frugi- 
vorous)^ is common but very sh}'. The 
crows assemble in large flocks in the 
winter and resort to the flelds. I have 
often seen over a hundred in a flock. 
They nest in the thickest woods that 
can be found, and usually build in the 
tall cedar trees. , 
The Blue Jay, ( Cyanodtta cristata)^ 
is Gnnmon in the mixed woods, and is 
always ready to drive all other birds 
by its screeching. 
d’he Red-bellied Woodpecker, [Cen- 
turus carolinus)^ is the most common 
woodpecker found here. Its nesting 
place is generally a hole dug in a dead 
tj’ee. The hole is usually about six 
inches deep; and the eggs, live in num¬ 
ber, are glossy white, with a tinge of 
pink before blown, owing to the yolk 
showing through the shell. 
To he continued. 
Stibnite. 
BY W. S. BEKKMAN, W. MEDFORD, MASS. 
CONCEUDED. 
The stibnitenovv underconsideration 
is from a Japanese locality, which has 
been jealously kept secret from foreign¬ 
ers, as even their whole county was 
until a recent day. The specimen 
weighs twenty five pounds; perfect 
cabinet shape, and large enough for a 
table. Specimens of smaller size and 
even fragments will represent the indi¬ 
vidual lustre as well as the larger spec¬ 
imens, only lacking, of course, combin¬ 
ed effect. 
"A confused medley of black and white 
is the first im|)ression produced from 
a distant view of our specimen. As it 
comes nearer to a focus this medley 
resolves into a sei’ies of long, stout 
crystals covering a mass of drusy milk- 
white quartz, which in places where, by 
the overlapping of crystals a space 
is open, seems to show, its discontent¬ 
ment with the back view and protrudes 
itself out through these loop-holes, re¬ 
sembling, with its many facets just 
peeping above, the many faceted eyes 
of a trilobite as the\' now appear in 
their strong gaze on the shelves of our 
cabinets. The steel-gray crystals.oBen 
from six to twenty inches in length, 
are of an exceedingly brilliant metallic 
lustre. Their brilliancy is not equal¬ 
led elsewhere in the mineral kingdom. 
The dazzling lustre is unusuallwcold 
in its depth, and excites our admira¬ 
tion from the fact of its great purity. 
Not a break occurs in the crystafs face, 
not even the lines of terminal growth 
inq)air its splendor, but so perfect are 
its faces that one’s image is reflected as 
from a plate mirror Scientific interest 
is awakened in the crystal from the 
fact that over thirty new angles were 
discovered in this specie by Prof Dana. 
Terminations are generally perfect, 
and the number of planes now known 
number eighty five. In case the crys¬ 
tals are detached, as some of the larger 
ones are, the contrasting infiuence of 
the milky quartz is not materially felt 
