Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1883-09-21
NOTES ON THE FAUNA OF YER.
MONT-xVI.
Birds, Eggs

l'i''vH iO4 INV IIce Truss ny fTancS Ii. ueTrlckl
In viewing collection of the eggs of our
naive birds, we are struck first Of all BY the |
wonderful variety Of color and size, Of shade |
aud shape which these delicate objects dis |
play. Nature seems to have employed her
rArsst tints and washes, and laid them on with
"A fine brush Should we glance, however, at |
the plumage of the birds, we must adult that
here is the greater variety, certainly the
greater intensity of color, for has she not here
made u;e of every dye and dipped into every
paint pot. The purple and gold, bright
scarlet and ilame-colOr, lthe rich greens and
lndigos which we note in the feather, we
may not find in the egg. But the principal
colJrs, ii the fewer are the softer the more
delicate in the latter. This endless variety
lies rather in the pattern and shade than in
inc number oil pigments, and the original or
Inc itleCtOn we see everywhere in nature.
on trace the greens and blues to the sky and
foliage, the gays aud browns 10 bark and
stones, the mellow soil and the sere livery
OF autumn. The CLASSY white is reflected
from the crystal.
If the bIuebird sbripgs 'lhe sky on its
hacK,' it reproduces it again on its egg
The egg of the flicker rivals in snowy
polished piece of Vermont marble In the
eggs of the indgo-bird and gold-fnch we
see the faintcst trace of blue, while those
of the robin are dyed with deeper shade
and in the cut. bird there IS the harsher green
of the sea.
Wcrecall the freckled eggs of the sparrows
concealed in their grassy nests in the ground,
and those Of the little warblers deity hid
in bush and brake, light in color, wreathed
or dotted with various shades Of brown and
purple the trig egg of the wren, pinkish,
finely spattered, the long taper pointed
eggs Of the oiiole, wel-lined and marbled,
rocked and cradled in their breezy hammocks
in the tree-top, the scrawled and cloudel
specimens Of the bobollnk and purple
grackle, the pen lined egg OF the crazy great
crested ilycatchCr, and the striking egg Of
his brother, the king bird, boldly marked
with lumber and lilac.
Then there are the pure white eggs of the
martin and kiustisher, which never see the
light, laid at the end of their subterraneau
galleries; the snowy, immaculate eggs of the
owls and woodpC ckers, well FURNISHED, shell
Tered in their wooden cabins, and those of
the dusky swift staring from the chimney's
gloomy depths indebted amid the SCOT the
white, lavender clDuded pair of the whip
pOOrwill and those of the night-ha
| "'"' ''N' soy mn wv biulhabS VI wv III VI
the moss Or,rOck on which thcyiare laid. We
note also the fine spatter work of the. brown
thrush's aud Cow-brd's,1 the hieroglyphics
on the rcd-winged starlings, the olive mot
Ting of the crows and jays, the strongly
by rllOrm Shape aud blOtched surface Of the
sahdplpcts s. Contrast win these the warm,
cream.cooIcd egg of the grouse, as plump
and tim as the body of the parent, the
olvaceous, oofIce-tinted looms and the soiled
and chalky shells OF the hawks, blotched and
stained with little regularity
ln glancing over the members of the
ieatheied Tribe which make their home IN
New England, for their home means their
birthplace, about one hundred and fifty,
exclusive Of the water birds, find that the
eggs of all may be readily divided into three
general classes, provided we make sub
division in each case. There will be the
white eggs, and then those dotted, wreathed,
bOlched or IN any way marked with color
secondly the distinctly cream, clay or grayish
washed, and tho same marked as before (;
tinted and those With the same basis but
o''',' i, ,n 80 ~ u"io maS W.,
fr,t kind, wnil, about a third belong TO the
second division, SO that white or the absence
Oh co'of Is marked feature is interest
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u'''lI "n', S'eous "ou'" IAN "a. te'ua'uuei VI