Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 17.djvu/406

392 and our R. satrapa were the same, took a description of the nest and eggs of that bird and applied it to our "golden crown," but the birds are not identical.

If Mr. Minot is correct, as he undoubtedly is, it is probable that I have the pleasure of possessing the first and possibly the only nest and eggs of this bird ever found. In 1876, the year following Mr. Minot's discovery, I obtained a nest which contained ten eggs. It was found near Bangor, Maine, and was placed about six feet from the ground in a mass of the thick growth so common in many of our fir-trees. The nest was composed of a large ball of soft moss, forming a mass about four and a half inches in diameter. The opening was at the top, and was about one and three fourths inch across and two inches deep; this opening was lined with hair and feathers, principally the latter.

To the eye the eggs appear of a creamy-white color, covered with such very obscure spots that they merely give a dingy or dirty tint to the egg; but Dr. Brewer, who examined them by the aid of a powerful magnifier, states in the "Ornithological Bulletin" for April, 1879, in which he gives an account of these eggs, that "the ground-color is white, with shell-marks of purplish slate, and a few obscure superficial markings of a deep buff, giving to the ground the effect of cream color." These eggs are extremely minute, the largest being only of an inch long and  of an inch in breadth, while the smallest is  of an inch long and  of an inch in breadth, or about the length of the egg of the ruby-throated humming-bird. These ten tiny eggs in their mossy casket can hardly be excelled for simple beauty.

There are many persons who do not feel particularly interested in natural history in general, but who are nevertheless charmed by our beautiful birds and their sweet songs, and, being touched through the medium of their senses, they come by degrees to learn more and more of their habits, till the charm so grows upon them that without our feathered friends life would lose one of its greatest pleasures. Yet, perhaps, no living creatures are so much abused, being a convenient target for every boy who is large enough to carry a gun or throw a stone. In some localities there is a constant robbery of their nests, carried on to an alarming extent, which the law is practically powerless to prevent. Take a single example of failure to enforce the law in another direction: I am informed that over seven thousand ducks were netted contrary to law in Franklin, Maine, last year, by pot-hunters, and all over our State this business is carried on with impunity, and probably will continue to be till public sentiment is aroused to a proper realization of the fact that our waters are gradually being stripped of their water-fowl, and when it is, perhaps, too late, the wrong which has been permitted may be appreciated but too well.