Oct. 1888.] 



AKD OOLOGIST. 



151 



wind seeiiieti to fioshen, niid I seemed getting 

 seared. In my liuny to get tlie eggs and eonie 

 down, I pulled the nest away with a jerk, it 

 turned eomi)letely over and an empty nest was 

 my only reward for an old fashioned climb. 

 It was all the more annoying from the fact that 

 I believe, from one or two scraps of egg shells 

 picked up below the nest, that this set was of 

 the rarest type with red spots on a pure white 

 ground. 



I have found a cummon reed lishing pole 

 about the best stick to use in tliis method of 

 taking nests. I carry a hundred feet of light 

 line, tie pole and egg box at one end, coil the 

 line on clear ground near the tree, tie the other 

 end to my belt, and go aloft. When the nest 

 is taken and packed in the egg box, the line 

 lowers it to the ground and a knot tied when 

 the box has reached terra firma gives the height 

 of nest. 



A Hrown-headed Nuthatch, (Sitta jtnxilln.) 

 had a nest fifteen feet up a \ery rotten twenty 

 foot stub, on th(' e<lge of three feet of water. 

 A loop in tlie middle of the rope was passed 

 around the stub, and drawn taut after having 

 beeu pushed up nearly to the hole. My broth- 

 er, on the land side, holding one end of the 

 rope, lowered the stub into the water as I 

 pulled it down with the other end of the rope 

 after wading across. The stick broke into sev- 

 eral pieces as it struck tlie water, but we floated 

 out of the nest five haiidsdme eggs, all too far 

 incubated to be saved. 



Another Nuthatch was occupying a hole 

 twelve or fifteen feet up a stub too rotten to 

 bear my weight, and too solid aud heavy to pull 

 over. Six feet from it grew a slender birch 

 sapling, leaning away from the stub, and like- 

 wise too weak to bear me. I dragged up a 

 couple of ten foot fence rails and tied them to- 

 gether with my belt and game bag strap, close 

 to one end after being crossed, just leaving 

 enough fork to hold the birch sapling when the 

 long ends were stuck in the uuid on the side 

 away from the stub and far enough apart to 

 give a wide base. This gave a very shaky 

 climb and foothold, as my weight on the hireh 

 caused the ends of tlie rails to sink in the mud, 

 liut after a gciod deal of hard work tearing out 

 and cutting away the half rotten wood sur- 

 rounding the nest, at full arm's length, I man- 

 aged to secure what there was — an incomplete 

 set of three. 



A Barred Owl {Strix whuhisa) was rapped 

 out of the top of a twenty foot birch stub standing 

 in the water. The outer wood was rotten, and I 

 had to tear away the shell with my fingers, as I 



went up, to expose a hard enough surface for 

 the spurs to bite. The two eggs were put in 

 my hat with some cotton aud tlie hat replaced on 

 my liead. I did not pack in the egg box, as I 

 had all my work cut out in clinging to the old 

 rotten stub and could only use one hand at once. 

 The eggs, w-hieh came down safely, were both 

 addled — putrid, I should say — and I don't 

 think I could have blown them without parting 

 com|)any with my dinner. I got a whift" of 

 them at lung range as my brother was calmly 

 removing the contents, and I left the room. If 

 they had only broken when in my hat! 



On the Fading of Colors of Eggs 



After they are Prepared for 



the Cabinet. 



BY J. p. N. 



I find that it is impossible to prevent the eggs 

 of certain species of birds from fading after 

 they are prepared for the cabiuet. 



Exposure to the light will of course fade their 

 colors, but I do not refer to that. Kggs shoidd 

 be kept in tightly fitting drawers, away from 

 all liglit; but even when this is done with the 

 greatest care, still it seems to be impossible to 

 prevent some of them from fading. 



Eggs of the Bluebirds are especially liable 

 to lose their color. I have noticed those of the 

 Eastern species {SiaUa Malis) which were of a 

 beautiful blue when taken, and after being 

 carefully prepared for the cabinet and at once 

 shut up in a dark drawer, they gradually f.aded 

 until they were several shades lighter than they 

 were at first. 



The same thing is noticeable, although in a 

 lesser degree, in eggs of the Itobin, (Merula 

 miijralorin). Wood Thrush, {Hijlorkhla muste- 

 limi), Brown Thrasher, {Ihirpdrhiinchns riifus), 

 and uuuiy others. 



White eggs, with a thin shell show the yolk 

 through tlie shell before they are blown and 

 lose the pinkish tint afterwards, but this of 

 course cannot be called fading. Many eggs, 

 however, aijjiear nuich darker before they are 

 blown, and I have thought that the drying of 

 the inside white membrane after blowing is 

 answerable for this. Several times eggs have 

 almost entirely changed color when dry. Of- 

 ten have I congratulated myself on the possess- 

 ion of what I thought were an unusually (/reen 

 set of eggs of the Brown Thrasher before being 



