THE OSPREY. 



95 



every way. The direct services which it renders 

 in keepinff down the Jiumber of niosquitos and 

 flies would entitle it to protection if sentiment 

 did not make the same claim. The Cape canary, 

 the best son<^-bird of the Colonies, is common 

 in the g-ardens round Pietermaritzburtjf, while 

 on the Tug^ela a larg-e yellow canarjMs found. 

 The common canary comes in spring', and has a 

 small relation, the "mealie bird," which lives 

 mainly in the patches of Indian corn." 



"It was reported that among" the casualties at 

 Modder River were several cases of snake-bite. 

 This is not unlikely, for the men were lying- and 

 crawling- on the hot plain, where snakes love to 

 bask The snakes of South Africa are both 

 common and deadly." 



"The greatest enemies of the snakes are the 

 kites and eagles, especially the tawn)' eagles. 

 These, and a very fine black eagle called the 

 Verreeux eagle, are common on the lower slopes 

 of the Drakensberg. If the fortunes of war 

 chang-e in Natal, soldier naturalists may be in- 

 terested to know that the latter bird breeds close 

 to the Upper Tugela falls, on a cliff eight hun- 

 dred feet high. Young eaglets from such an 

 eyrie would be a trophy worthy of a Roman 

 legion. 



An Unfortunate Investment in Eggs. — 

 One of the most peculiar situations in regard 

 to the eg^ supply ever known exists in the 

 United States to-daj'. The situation is the 

 result of storing eggs in an attempt to control 

 the market. There are liable to be two results. 

 One is that the people of the countr3' will have 

 cold storage eggs hoisted upon them as the 

 newly-laid product. The other is that the people 

 who attempted to "corner" the market will 

 sufter heavy losses. 



The beginning of the "cornering-" effort dates 

 back to last summer. At that time, it is said, 

 the Chicago packers evolved the scheme of bu)'- 

 ing up all the eggs that could possibU' be 

 gathered together and storing them until the 

 supply became scarce. As is usual in schemes, 

 it was anticipated that the scarcity would send 

 the price sky higdi. Then the stored eggs were 

 to be unloaded on the market and a fortune was 

 to be made for the packers. It is fignired that 

 7,0U0,000 cases, each case containing thirty' dozen 

 eggs, were stored away. To the industrious 

 hen, whose capacitj' is one egg a day, this is an 

 exceeding-lv large amount. 



The scheme to control the market fell through. 

 There was no call for the stored eggs and the 

 packers Vjegan to lie awake o' nights thinking-. 

 At present the hens are beginning to lay fresh 

 eggs. These are coming into the market and 

 no one wants the stored eggs. 



A little figuring will show how enormous the 

 loss will be. There are 7.(K)(),0()I) cases of eggs, 

 or 210,(X)(),()(I() dozen, stored throughout the 

 country-. These were bought up at 15 cents a 

 dozen. The present price of eggs a dozen out- 

 side of Cleveland is on an average four cents 

 less a dozen than the price at which the stored 

 eggs were bought. This will mean a loss of 

 about S8,4()(),()()0 to the packers. It is conjec- 

 tured that there are 6,000 cases of the stored 

 eggs in this city. The loss here will also be 

 very large. 



It is reported that the packers in this vicinity 

 have a way out of the dilemma. It is said that 

 next summer when eggs are shipped here from 

 outlying towns, the stored eggs will be mixed 

 with fresh ones and that in that way the old 

 product will be sold to the unsuspecting public. 

 — Cleveland Plain Dealer. 



An Egg of ^pyornis maximus was sold at 

 auction by Mess. Stevens of London for forty- 

 two guineas on Nt^vember 7th. It was bought 

 bv Mr. T. G. Middlebrook. 



The Death of Sik James Paget will be felt 

 by physicians more than naturalists. He was, 

 however, interested in early life in zoology and 

 known as an ornithologist. In conjunction with 

 a brother, Charles, in 1834 he published "A 

 sketch of the Natural History of Yarmouth," 

 including the birds as well as other animals. 

 He was born in 1815 and died in Eondon, Decem- 

 ber 30, 1899. 



The Death of Edgak Leopoed Eayard 

 followed fast on that of another student of 

 South African Birds, Dr. A. E. Stark, recorded 

 in the OsprEY for January, (p. 80). 



Mr. Ea^-ard died at his residence in Budleig^h, 

 Salterton, Devon, January 1, 1900. He is best 

 known to most ornithologists in connection with 

 his "Birds of South Africa" (1867), but was also 

 the author of numerous articles on birds of 

 other lands, especially Polynesian, either alone 

 or with others. 



Literature. 



Wabeno, The Magician: The Sequel to 

 Tomm^-Anne and the Three Hearts. By Mabel 

 Osgood Wright. Illustrated by Joseph M. Glee- 

 son. New York. The MacMillan Companv. 

 1899 [12mo. pp. i-ix, 1-346. $1.50.] 



All who have had the privilege of perusing 

 Mrs. Wright's earlier volumes will surely 

 welcome this, her latest production. Following- 

 lines similar to the book of which it forms a 

 continuation, it carries the already familiar 

 friends into new but no less interesting fields of 

 inquiry, and the trials, joys and wonderments of 

 their every -da^' life are charmingly interwoven 

 with man 3^ and various details of accurate 



nature narrative; now imparted through the 

 medium of quaint Indian legend, now by the 

 impersonation of some animal or some inani- 

 mate object, yet always with the same rare 

 sympathy, the same charm of expression, which 

 are such distinguished characteristics of our 

 author's previous writing's. Indeed, "Wabeno, 

 The Magician" possesses all the fascination of 

 a fairy tale, with none of its incongruities, and 

 from cover to cover can scarceh' fail to hold the 

 attention of young and old. In every respect 

 the present volume is fully the equal of its pre- 

 decessors, and when this can be said nothing 

 remains to be added. — H. C. O. 



