THE SECRETARY, 1878-1887 407 



His sister, Mrs. Mary D. Biddle, uncertain what course 

 to pursue in connection with her boy's desire to collect 

 birds' eggs, wrote to him for advice. His reply follows: 



From Spencer F. Baird to his sister, Mrs. Mary D. Biddle? 



WOOD'S HOLE, MASS., 



July 14, 1887. 

 DEAR MOLLY: 



Tom misunderstands my position in regard to bird nesting. When 

 I was in the business, I was collecting material for an exhaustive 

 work on the natural history of the birds of North America and a 

 set of nests and eggs of each species in all variations was a necessity. 

 I consequently needed to have as large a variety as possible, "So as 

 to cover the ground. The ordinary bird-egging boy, however, whose 

 enterprise is not to be frowned at, is not such an individual. He 

 simply wants to make a collection of eggs without an ulterior scien- 

 tific object. A single egg will answer the same purpose in his case 

 as the hundred required in the one first mentioned. Unless you have 

 an embryo Audubon with a decided scientific object likely to be 

 carried out, I would frown upon anything more than the taking of 

 a single egg from the nest, and this should be approached with the 

 greatest caution, and the egg taken should be removed with a spoon. 

 By taking out an egg with a spoon, the other eggs are not so likely 

 to be contaminated. The parent bird detects the touch of human 

 fingers and abandons the nest immediately. 



I am inclined to ascribe the reduction in the number of our home 

 birds as much to the taking of eggs for various purposes, or driving 

 away the parents, as to the actual extermination of the birds them- 

 selves. However, the most effective way of preventing the difficulty 

 is by prohibiting the taking of eggs entirely which I would earnestly 

 recommend. 



S. F. BAIRD. 



This biographer in describing those last days prefers 

 to avail himself of the eloquent words, spoken by Major 



3 This (dictated) letter is the last signed by Professor Baird before 

 his death. 



