20 



THE OOLOGIST. 



Tfte ©oro^isi 



FOURTH PUBLICATION YEAR. 



MAY, 1878. 



Nesting of Noktii AjiEiacAN Akde- 

 ID-E. — Id order that the t'oithcomiii^r paper 

 oil the eggs and nests of the Herons of 

 North America may be as complete and ex- 

 liaustive as possible, the author, Mr. Bal- 

 lon, of Evanston, Ills., is desirous of com- 

 municating with collectors who have taken 

 eggs or made observations on the nesting 

 of any species, with the view to establish 

 the breeding range, and also that every par- 

 ticular connected with the breeding habits 

 may be treated minutely. This article, to 

 be profusely illustrated, if as complete as 

 it is desired it shall be, will form an inval- 

 uable treatise for reference. 



Attention is called to the Novelty Blow 

 Pipe advertised by Mr. W. H. Collins. The 

 old time blower, which requires so much 

 labor and is often objectionable to the op- 

 erator, is bound to be superseded by a la- 

 bor-saving instrument. 



A General Cabinet. — Collectors who 

 take an interest in gathering the skins, eggs 

 and nests of birds, frequently ask if a cab- 

 inet sufficiently large to accommodate spec- 

 imens of all these would be desirable. A 

 compactly arranged ornithological collec- 

 tion, tastefully disposed in one cabinet, is 

 more easily accessible than two or three 



separate collections, embodied in as many 

 cabinets, the cost of which latter, moreover, 

 would be much the greater. By arranging 

 the eggs at the top, the nests below these, 

 and the skins at the bottom of a cabinet 

 with a single tier of drawers, a collection 

 of moderate size is rendered compact, ac- 

 cessible and handsome ; or, when the col- 

 lections are large, a cabinet with two tiers 

 of drawers is the most suitable and conven- 

 ient, the eggs and nests occupying one tier, 

 the skins the other. The ingenuity of the 

 naturalist in arranging and labeling his 

 collection, is the best guide. Ornitholog- 

 ical, botanical, entomological and geolog- 

 ical collections can be accommodated in one 

 cabinet, if spacious, but the mingling of so 

 many, or even two or three collections of 

 these dissimilar objects, may be objection- 

 able, and where means permit, one case 

 for the specimens of each study would, per- 

 haps, be more in accordance with a natu- 

 ral arrangement. Drawers provided with 

 tight-fitting glass slides are rendered insect 

 proof, at least in a measure, and permit 

 the display of the collection without its be- 

 iu": disturbed. 



Cardboard boxes of various sizes are 

 now extensively used by oologists, as a con- 

 venient receptacle for diiferent species of 

 eggs. They are adaptable to the size of 

 the specimens or the number of eggs in a 

 set, and if made of a certain uniform length 

 and breadth, they will exactly fill out a 

 cabinet drawer. Thus, a small collection, 

 with a judicious assortment of diflf'erent siz- 

 ed boxes, can be made to look very com- 

 plete, all superfluous boxes being reserved 

 for future use ; Avhereas, a drawer parti- 

 tioned in the manaer of a printer's case, 

 may or may not be filled out, and whatever 

 empty apartments there are, contribute so 

 much to the incomplete appearance of a 

 collection. 



Our series of papers on exotic birds will 

 be continued in the June number. They 

 promise to be very interesting. 



