138 



THE OOLOGIST. 



your fellow uieu. There are a few 

 rules in your intercourse with birds 

 and men which it will be well to bear 

 in mind, and which 1 will place here 

 for your guidance, believing that all 

 will agi'ee with me upon reading them 

 over. 



1. Identify your specimens fully at 

 the time of capture. Don't call your 

 sparrows eggs swamp sparrows, be- 

 cause you found them on the low land. 

 One-hundred to one they are song spar- 

 rows. Never send or receive an egg 

 or anything else without perfect identi- 

 ty. Never buy specimens except from 

 reputable dealers. 



2. When you write a letter requiring 

 information, or a list, enclose a stamp. 

 The editor of the Oologist will tell 

 you that he is out many dollars 

 each year, for postage on account 

 of these delinquencies. Think of your 

 own case if every one should expect 

 you to write. 



3. Pack your eggs properly in cotton 

 and enclose in wooden box. Cigar 

 box is good if properly fortified in cen- 

 ter with strong fastened partition or 

 properly end liued. Don't .send 

 letter by the same box, it is against 

 postal laws. 



4. Don't buy from, or exchange with 

 the person who advertises eggs for less 

 than one half what other dealers sell 

 for. You may rest assured that he is a 

 swindler. 



5. Don't send out so-called sets of 

 eggs with eggs from different clutches 

 in it. A good collector knows your 

 little game at once and you soon get a 

 name for dishonesty. 



6. When you correspond with any 

 collector, in fact any one — make an 

 effort to improve in writing, punctua- 

 tion, spelling and general make up of 

 letter. And above all be punctual and 

 polite as well as punctilious. 



7. Get good «tyle of propex'-sized 

 paper and write like a business man. 

 Jiemember that in my judgment, the 



boy or man who writes a neat letter, 

 punctuating pi'operly and filling out 

 his hues fairly, is much more liable to 

 pi'epare his specimens well, than a per- 

 son is who scrawls all over his sheet 

 and makes his writing look like fly- 

 tracks in ink. 



G. SiKKOM. 



The Raptores of Omaha and Vicinity. 



BY CHARLES ACEY WHITE. 



Swallow-tailed Kite, Eianoides 

 forjicatus. Accidental visitor around 

 Omaha, but more common through the 

 country. 



Marsh Hawk, Circus hudsonius. The 

 Harrier or Mouse Hawk as more com- 

 monly called arrives here the last of 

 March, when pairs may be seen sailing 

 along the ground and chasing each 

 other like children at play. 



Nidification begins al)Out the first or 

 second week in May and if not disturb- 

 ed will resort to the same old site for 

 years. 



The nest is situated on the ground 

 near water in tall grass or on a slight 

 hillock in a marsh, composed of coarse 

 grasses, old weeds and sun flower 

 stalks, if growing near. The nest is 

 very loosely constructed and liued with 

 coarse grass. 



The eggs are greenish white, either 

 immaculate or faintly spotted with 

 brown or lilac, rather oval in shape, 

 three to six in number. 



Sharp-shinned Hawk, AccCpitei- 

 ve/ox. Found breeding here and north 

 of Florence, Neb. It feeds principal'j' 

 on small birds. 



The eggs are subject to great varia- 

 tion. The ground color varies from 

 bluish-white to grayish-white, spotted, 

 l)lotched, speckled and clouded with 

 fawn color, burnt amber, chestnut, 

 chocolate, lavender-gray and dark 

 brown, spherical in form. 



Cooper's Hawk, Accipiter cooperi. 



