THE OOLOGIST. 



235 



should 1)0, auil is rapidly becoming, 

 universally' known to collectors, viz: 

 caustic potash. A solution of this in- 

 jected into the eggs soon destroyed the 

 embryos and made them as easy to 

 blow as though they had been tilled 

 with water. This is the only set I owe 

 to the use of tliat chemical. 



I well rememlwr the only nest of the 

 Sandhill Crane I ever found. It was 

 when I was very small, about ten years 

 old I think. My brother and myself 

 were herding cattle, and while walking 

 near the edge of a slough I saw what 

 appeared to my juvenile vision to be a 

 red bird perched upon a large sedge. 

 It was in reality the head of a female 

 Sandhill Crane who was setting on her 

 eags. When we api)roaehed she left 

 the nest, half running, half Hying, and 

 stopped a short distance away. We 

 secured the eggs, which were laid on 

 some dry grass that had 1)een pliced 

 upon the top of a half decayed muskrat 

 house and then turned our attention to 

 the owner of them. She was very fear- 

 less and would not leave us farther than 

 a few rods while we stayed near the 

 nest. 



My undeveloped mind conceived that 

 here was a good chance to cover myself 

 with glory, so repairing to a neighi)or's 

 near by 1 borrowed a gun, pretending 

 that it was for my father; one barrel was 

 loaded and after ai)proaching as near 

 as possible to the Crane I deliberately 

 \ihiced the slovk untl'V my nnn took a 

 <-areful (?) aim and tired. Bloodshetl 

 resulted but it was from my nose, which 

 was minus a large patch of epidermis 

 while the Crane was unharmed. The 

 eggs were taken home and placed un- 

 der a goose and in due season one 

 young Crane came forth and was gorg- 

 ed with angh'.-worms till it died The 

 Santlhill Crane has l)een successfully 

 reared however. 



In 1889 Iitook three .sets of Traill's 

 Flycatcher from the .same pair of birds. 

 The time i-f nest building ami complet- 



ing the set was just two weeks in each 

 case, and the birils reared a brooii in a 

 fourth nest whi«-h I did not discover till 

 the young were quite large. 



How is that for perseverance. Have 

 fountl nests of this species around the 

 same grove each year since, but no- 

 where else, so I concluded that this, 

 pair of birds have made it their per- 

 manent home. 



On July 1st of this year I took a set 

 of four perfeHly fresh eggs of the Black- 

 billed Cuckoo. Is this not rather un- 

 usual? 



There is one little point with regaril 

 to listing eggs that I have never seen 

 mentioned, and yet I think it should be. 

 It is this: when you have .several .sets of 

 some species, each containing the same 

 number of eggs, say four, do not list 

 them, as nearly all collectors do, after 

 this manner, 1-4, 2-4, 3-4, etc., but if 

 the number of sets is three "make them 

 at once 3-4, i. e., three .sets of four eggs 

 each. If the collectors would all adopt 

 this plan, as many already have, it 

 would save some confusion and a great 

 deal of time and space. 



I have never tried the water-blower 

 which is so popular at present, but 

 blow my eggs by a different method, 

 which has been very nearly describeii 

 iiefore. I procure a common family sy- 

 ringe and one of Lattin's brass blow- 

 pipes. The blowpipe I tix stationary., 

 so it cannot move sidewise, upor down. 

 Ijut can be turned. 'J'he end of the sy- 

 ringe I in.sert into the l)lowpipe and anv 

 ready for work. The .syringe, if a good 

 one, will, when the bull) is comprcs.scd, 

 reailily force a ctirrent of air or water 

 through the point of the idowpipe. and 

 tile a|)paratus can be used for eithei' a 

 water or air blower. I piefer air. This 

 does away entirely with the u.se of liie 

 liuman bellows, and makes the task of 

 preparing eggs, recently so formidable 

 as much a pleasure as a t:i>k. 



The fate of this article will decide 



