Field Notes · Catnum 221599 · score 16 — high uncertainty
Situation: Six and a half feet from the ground on the branch of some young pines, in the midst of a dense growth of these young pines. Composition: Based on strips of corn husks, gnarvine bark and a few leaves, then a quantity of plant stems and stalks, lined with finished stems of branches. Dimensions: Diameter, outside 4 1/2 inches, inside, 2 3/8 inches. Depth, outside 3 inches, inside, 2 3/8 inches. This is the first set of four taken, another set of four was taken today. All the others I have taken, twenty-three sets, held either two or three.
Metadata · Catnum 221599
Date13 May 1887
LocalityCenterville Township, Fairfax, Virginia, USA
CollectorJamison, Harry K.
Eggs in Set4
Specimen TypeC
Incubationfresh
Identificationbird seen (transcribed as “Saw the female at the nest.”)
Nest Height1.98 m (6.5 feet)
Nest Supportbranch of young pines
Nest Materialsstrips of corn husks, gnarvine bark, leaves, plant stems and stalks
Nest Liningfinished stems of branches
Nest Settingdense growth of young pines
Nest NotesNest dimensions: outside diameter 4.5 inches, inside diameter 2.375 inches, outside depth 3 inches, inside depth 2.375 inches. This is the first set of four taken, another set of four was taken today. All the others taken (twenty-three sets) held either two or three eggs.
Further Details18
✦ Anecdote
This record documents an unusually large clutch of four eggs for Northern Cardinal, which typically lays 2-3 eggs, and the collector notes that all twenty-three previous sets contained only two or three eggs.