108 



THE OOLOGIST. 



bear me out iu maiutaining that the 

 Wood Thrush iievc7- sings from the top 

 •of a tree. Am I not right? 



Again we find that a collector took a 

 set of Barn OwVs eggs from an old a^-ple 

 ■tree. This is remarkable that a I'are 

 bird east of the Mississippi river should 

 nest in Indiana. In same article he 

 says he took another set of barn or hoot 

 •owl. An^'thing that lives near a barn 

 and hoots is a barn hoot owl. Now my 

 ilear sir jou never saw a nest of B;uii 

 Owl in Indiana. You are honest but 

 terribly mistaken. This correction 

 may seem hard but it is necessarj' or 

 the boys of Indiana will all have Barn 

 Vwls eggs in a month or so 



In another excellent article, the 

 writer says he found two deserted nests 

 of Ali)ino Marsh Wren but fails to say 

 whether the birds, eggs, or nest were 

 white. In fact were any of them white? 

 Such items are idle, unless carefully 

 substaiitiated with accurate data. 



Another writer says he found a nest 

 ■of the Swamp Sparrow which he iden- 

 tified. How did he identify the eggs? 

 Now Mr. Editor, I have outlasted sev- 

 eral generations of oologists, and have 

 never taken a set of Swamp Sparrows. 

 At least 500 nests of the Song Spairow 

 have r.iet my view but never yet a set 

 of Swamp. Every sparrow's nest 

 V)uilt in a marsh or swamp does not 

 vonstitute a Swamp Sparrows nest. 

 Let us get this identification. 



A Minnesota man says he has never 

 heard the song of the swamp sparrow, 

 although they are common there. The 

 song is heard everywhere in May, June 

 und July wliere the birds are found, I 

 fan assure iiim. 



Boys, study the songs of the birds, 

 walk with caution, eyes and ears open, 

 and you will find as much pleasure in the 

 study of details in a bird's notes, move- 

 ments, etc., as if you secured a large 

 tjollection of eggs and knew nothing of 

 the i)irds and habits. Remember you 

 «,re but very little if any above the old- 



fashioned collector who strung his eggs 

 iu festoons, if you simply collect for 

 pleasure of amassing eggs and leading 

 other collectors. The collector who 

 simply tries to gratify a fad for collect- 

 ing eggs, is unworthy of the name of 

 oologist, and in time surely a very few 

 years, at the most, he drops out of the 

 deal, and his once precious eggs are 

 eaten by the mice, smashed, sold, given 

 away and cast to the four winds. 



I am an egg crank, dyed in the wool 

 and come to sta\', and I take as much 

 interest iu birds nests now as cverl did. 

 Taking three yeai-.s ;is tlie average col- 

 lector's fad, Miul lliis i,> re;isonal)le, I 

 have lived and collected ihrough ten 

 generations or ages of egg-cranks, and 

 yet my love holds fast to (he subject, 

 and I feel a deepening interest in the 

 subject because I have studied my 

 friends the birds and their nests and 

 eggs. To be sure I do not feel that 

 thi'ill of joy, indescribable, which once 

 enthralled me, when my hand stole 

 into a nest and felt the treasures there 

 but thei-e is a higher and better feeling, 

 which is an outcome of love of tlie 

 study, intensified by years of devotion 

 to the subject or service if you will. 



I am not trying to discourage j'ou 

 boys. On the contrary, I want to in- 

 spire you with a rock bottom enthu- 

 siasm, a lasting love for the study and 

 all associated with it. I sincerely hope 

 that those old writers to the Oologist 

 will read my lines and therel)y secure 

 a new lease of life — that is a revivifi- 

 cation. I feel t!iat intense longing 

 each and every spring for the woods, 

 and fields, and birds that I had when a 

 boy, and I am trusting to always re- 

 tain it. 



''The child is father of the man. 

 And I could wish my days might be 

 Bound each to each by natural piety." 

 But to return to the subject of criti- 

 cism, and I presume that you are all 

 inclined to berate my authority to talk 

 as I have done. 



