72 



THE OOLOGIST 



in wonderful array, from the common 

 little English sparrow to the beauti- 

 ful birds of the tropics. It is also in- 

 teresting to note the large display of 

 eggs and their different sizes; color- 

 ings and shapes. 



One of the most interesting sights 

 in the museum, at least to the chil- 

 dren, is a series of groups of birds 

 illustrating "Who Killed Cock Robin?" 

 each set representing some scene of 

 the tragedy so familiar to every boy 

 and girl. 



A beautiful section of the museum 

 is that devoted to butterflies of which 

 there are hundreds of different varie- 

 ties, no two alike. Mr. Hatch recently 

 received a consignment of butterflies 

 from Rochester, N. Y. valued at near- 

 ly$150 and consisting of specimens 

 from nearly every country of South 

 America, Europe, Africa, Australia, 

 India and Japan. These butterflies 

 are worth from 50c to $7.50 each. 



The collection of curios includes 

 minerals, fossils, shells and innumer- 

 able articles of interest. Mr. Hatch 

 has a fine collection of stamps, coins 

 and relics of all kinds and complete 

 sets of American, Canadian and Eng- 

 lish coins from a very early date with 

 most of the coins of other countries. 

 A number of these coins were discov- 

 ered in excavating on the sites of an- 

 cient Roman cities and it is thought 

 that they were coined near the begin- 

 ning of the Christian era. 



Mr. Hatch also has a large quantity 

 of United States and Confederate pap- 

 er money. Two sheepskin parchments 

 signed by Thos. Jefferson and James 

 Madison are among the rare docu- 

 ments. 



Mr. Hatch, assisted by his wife, has 

 been collecting curios for the past 

 thirty years and has an extensive ac- 

 quaintance not only among naturalists 

 of the United States but other coun- 

 tries as well. He is constantly ex- 

 changing specimens and receiving new 

 curiosities and rarities to add to his 

 already large and complete collec- 

 tion. He values the entire stock at 

 between $4,000 and $5,000 and the 

 value increases with age. It is an in- 

 tellectual treat for anyone to visit Mr. 

 Hatch's Dime Museum and those who 

 have never seen the exhibits will do 

 well to avail themselves of an early 



opportunity of seeing the beauties and 

 wonders of nature. 



The Harvest. 



This month's OOLOGIST reaches 

 our readers and those of whom are col- 

 lectors are in the midst of the annual 

 Spring harvest. 



The taking and preparation of bird 

 skins, nests and eggs for the forma- 

 tion of a permanent collection and for 

 scientific studies is perfectly legiti- 

 mate and justified. The destruction of 

 either as the result of a mere tempor- 

 ary fad is to be deprecated, and it is 

 not wrong to take additional speci- 

 mens within reasonable limits for the 

 purpose of exchange; otherwise col- 

 lectors and collections remote from the 

 breeding place of the various species 

 would be unable to add them to their 

 cabinet. We trust that all our read- 

 ers will use reason and discretion with 

 respect to the gathering of speci- 

 mens and that after the close of the 

 season not only our advertising col- 

 umns, but our reading columns as well 

 will leflect a successful year in North 

 American Oology. 



This Month's Issue. 



We opine that the oldest of our read- 

 ers — and some of them have taken 

 THE OOLOGIST since the first issue 

 in 1884 — have never seen a better 

 Oologist than we send you this month. 

 If each one of you will take a little 

 interest in the journal and endeavor to 

 sen(i us at least one new subscriber 

 you will thereby show us your appre- 

 ciation for our extra effort. Can you 

 not do so? 



Bird Notes. 



Send us in some more of your ob- 

 servations. At the rate we are print- 

 ing them this month, the supply won't 

 last long. 



May 6th, 1910, a wild wood duck's 

 nest was found in the overflowed 

 Illinois river bottoms about fifteen 

 feet above the water in the hollow end 

 of a broken dead elm tree not over 

 twelve inches in diameter. It contain- 

 ed fourteen eggs, evidently partially 

 incubated, and an unusual quantity of 

 down for this species. 



