234 



THE OOLOGIST. 



Hash. 



How many of us remeuibei-, with an 

 amused smile, our tirst attempt at mak- 

 ing a c'olleetiou V Tlie badly blovvn 

 eggs which fell a prey to mice and in- 

 sects, the famous holes in the ends, the 

 large number of species we had, many 

 named from the shape, size and colora- 

 tion of the eggs, and the very common 

 vai'ieties of which it was composed. 

 Yet to this last there were exceptions, 

 and notable ones, too. I had eggs in 

 my collection then which I should con- 

 sider very precious now if I had pre- 

 served them. Among them was part 

 of a set of Burrowing Owl, the only 

 one I have known to be taken this far 

 east. The way it was discovered is as 

 follows : A friend informed me that he 

 had found the hole of some animal and 

 requested that I go with him to dig the 

 mammal out. I went. We found that 

 there were two holes, one quite large 

 and another considerably smaller. We 

 dug in the larger one first and found 

 nothing, then turned our attention to 

 the other. A train of cow dung, with 

 traces of the bones and "fur of mice 

 made it evident that the hole was in- 

 habited. The length we dug is some- 

 what obscure in my mind just now, but 

 I should say some two and one-half or 

 three feet, when we came to a number 

 of neai'ly round white eggs. These, we 

 at once decided, had been carried there 

 by the animal which (we supposed) 

 lived in the hole. So, after carefully 

 taking them out we dug to the end of 

 the hole but found nothing else. Some- 

 what disappointed we divided the eggs, 

 he expecting to set his under a pigeon 

 and I to prepare mine for the collec- 

 tions of my brother and myself. Weil, 

 his never hatched and ours fell victims 

 to the mice and the enfant krrible of 

 the household. Had I them now they 

 would be considered valuable as repi-e- 

 senting extreme eastern nesting of the 

 Burrowing Owl, for from subsequent 



studj^ I have learned that they certainly 

 belonged to that species. 



At another time I made a trip to the 

 Little Sioux River, some ten miles west 

 of my home, and found several varieties- 

 of eggs before and sin^e undiscovered, 

 as I have had no opportunity of visiting 

 the place since. One of these was the 

 Rose-breasted Grosbeak the other two 

 Vireis, species unknown. All were 

 destroj'ed, one of them being broken by 

 the too tight squeezing of the irrepres- 

 sible man who will handle our eggs 

 when they are shown him 



However the most valuable of the 

 eggs I once had was a set of four albi- 

 nos of the Black-throated Bunting. 

 They were taken after I had begun 

 scientific collecting, but owing to con- 

 siderable advancement in incubation I 

 was able to save only two of them. 

 These reposed in safety in my cabinet 

 for some time, but by some mishap they 

 were ruined and only one badly cracked 

 specimen is left to represent a very rare- 

 set of eggs. I say rare, because I have 

 never heard of a similiar set. 



But this article was to be a sort of 

 hash, and 1 have mixed in a rather 

 large portion of one substance. The 

 next ingredient must be runt eggs. Of 

 these 1 have several. One is of the 

 Kingbird, taken with two full sized' 

 ones from a deserted nest of the Blue 

 Jay. It is smaller than the smallest 

 Flj'catcher's but not quite so small as a 

 Hummer's. Another is of the Downy 

 Woodpecker, comprising part of a 

 set of live from Ohio. Then there is 

 one of the Prairie Hen, part of an ori- 

 ginal set of fifteen, and those of the 

 domestic species too numerous to men- 

 tion (or keep). 



I have in my collection a fine set of 

 two eggs of the Sandhill Crane. They 

 were taken in Palo Alto Co., Iowa in 

 June, 1891, by one of my father's herd 

 boys. Incubation was far advanced 

 and I should have been unable to save- 

 them but for the use of an article which 



