THE OSPRKY, 



9!) 



from Chester county, Pa., shot by "Chris." 

 Wood, the I'hikulelphia taxidermist, whose 

 name is connected with so many noteworthy 

 captures, some twenty-five years ajJ'O. There 

 were several of tlie Wood family among' the 

 earlier taxidermists of Philadelphia, and some 

 of them did considerable important coUeeting- 

 in the West and Scnith. notably on Lieut. 

 Michler's Panama expedition. 



.\nother name which appeal's on quite a num- 

 ber of labels is that of John Krider. the most 

 famous of Philadelphia's birdstutfei's and gun- 

 makers, whose old shop at Second and Walnut 

 streets remains practically the same to-day as 

 it has been for the past half-century or more; 

 but though the old sign still hangs over the 

 door, there is no long'er a Krider in the firm. 

 ■*.Tohn Krider was an ornithologist of no mean 

 ability, and had had personal field experience 

 with most of our birds occurring east of the 

 Mississippi, but. like all the older taxidermists. 

 he kept no notes and rarely labeled a specimen, 

 trusting wholly to his memory, which seems 

 to have failed him sadly when in his declining 

 years he prepared his only publication. How- 

 ever, it is gratifying to know that his name 

 will be perpetuated in Ruteo borealis krideri, 

 his most important di.scovery. 



Several specimens are from the collection of 

 .Tohn Cassin, and quilc a number of determina- 

 tions have been verified bv him. 



.Some of Cassin's peculiarities are slu.wn in 

 his labels, which are ger.erally full of detail 

 and not infrequently inchide whollv superflu- 

 ous contemporaneous matter. 



The nuHinted specimens in tlie Academy's 

 collection often bear on the base of the stand 

 his initials and the date upon which the bird 

 was identified! Sometimes more minute data 

 are added, as. for instance: "This bird was la- 

 beled liy .John Cassin on Thanksgiving Day, 

 1SI3--, at ").:iO o'clock in the evening;" and, in 

 another case, after the date appears: "News 

 has just arrived of the downfall of the French 

 Em])ire — \\\e La lieiJidjIiquel" The host of 

 unlabeled S2iecimens in the Turnbull collection 

 doubtless possess facts of fully as much inter- 

 est as those to which fragments of historic 

 matter are attached, and it is unfortunate that 

 their secrets must remain forever hidden. 

 There are some birds whose rarity at the time 

 of their capture must have made them objects 

 of the greatest interest, and a few lines (ui the 

 history of their capture and the lucky collec- 

 tors of olden times who secured them would 

 make interesting reading to-dav. 



[*! rtmeniber K"'"K thrniigli Mr. Krider's collection .-ilioiit thirty 

 years ago. and among specimens I did not recognize was a large 

 Hawk from Texas. This, as 1 now know, was Ijuteo alljicandatiis. 

 which might have been then introduced to our fauna, many years 

 before it actually did enter our list. — E. C] 



SNAP SHOTS WITH PEN AND CAMERA. 



Hy RrciRNF. S. Roli-e, Minnewaukan. N. Dak. 



Kerniiiin'Hts Rniigh-legged Hawk, frcm life ; age abmit 6 or 7 weeks. 



FERRUGINOUS ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK. 



The jjair of young liough-legs shown in the 

 illustration were taken from a characteristic 

 nest among boulders on the crest of a stonj' 

 knob in wild, unsettled country. They were 



then but a few ihi\s ont of the shell. Speeilily 

 overcoming their fears, they had become, at 

 time of photogra[)hing. much like domestic 

 fowls, suri'.assiug the latter, even, in their in- 

 difference to being hiiiulletl. 



.\s the rancher who had these birds called 

 them "Bald Eagles." his ])rice for the pair was 

 ■fill, and failing to nuike a sale, he was some- 

 what relnctant to siitfer their pictures to be 

 taken. I jndg-ed he had some vague, iincertain 

 notions as to copyright, and wished "all rights 

 reserved I " 



SHORT-EARED OWL. 



A hobo, camped near town with others of 

 his class, sold me this bird for 2.j cents. He 

 claimed to have shied a stick at it as it sat be- 

 side the railroad track, and slightly stunned i1. 

 On taking it frotn the big' bo.x cage, which it 

 occupied with a family of young liurrowing 

 (Jwls, and posing it on ;t boidder for its ])ic- 

 fure. it very accommoihitingly raised Its 

 "horns" — the only occasion on which 1 had ob- 

 served it do this. I snspect that the injury it 

 had received at the hands of the hobo was se- 

 rious, for it never exhibited the usnal spirit of 

 its species, and one morning it lay dead on the 

 ground floor of the cage, with a bowing, bob- 

 bing- \ lunm- I'.urrowino- Owl perched iq)on its 

 body.' 



[WESTERN NIGHTHAWK. 



The ])atience necessary in photog'raphing 

 birds in a wild state is ilhistrated here. Ob- 

 serving a Nighthawk sitting on the top of a 



