THE OOLOGIST 



9 



nest. He uttered no notes but rau up 

 and down the nearby trees so as to be 

 close to the nest. By quietly watching 

 ing I found that the loop of the bark 

 was about 5 inches wide and in all 

 about 6 or 7 inches long. All of the 

 lower part was filled with a few small 

 dry leaves, little twlg-i, the thickest 

 like a knitting needle protrudintj about 

 an inch on both sides of the loop, then 

 a layer of fine soft piec-s of bark, and 

 interlined wiLh plant tibers and wool 

 and fine feathers. The cap of the nest, 

 about an inch wide and four inches 

 broad, was liaed with the finest and 

 softest down. To my joy the nest con- 

 tained 6 small clear while egt^s, spotted 

 with rdddisli i)rown, mostly ai'ound'the 

 larger end, 3 in form of a wi>-ath and 3 

 with large spots. I have nest and eggs 

 in my collection and prize them highly. 

 A week later I took a nest of Chicka- 

 dee containing 8 eggs, and if 1 find time 

 in the near future will give a descrip- 

 tion of same. As far as I know no de- 

 scriptioa of these two species from this 

 loeality has appeared in priut. 



Ed. Reinecke, 

 Buff.ilo, N. Y. 



"The Oolog-ist's Association." 



Circulars are out relative to a pro- 

 posed meeting of the members of the 

 OoLogist's Assjciation. This met-tiug 

 will occur th« present year if the plans 

 of its promotors arn successfully car 

 ried our, ami I biocorely hope ihat 

 there will be a reproseaMcivt; gtfchering 

 of the 80 ca,llB.i Ooljgists of America. 

 Every bird lover lu the United States 

 has interests at stake in this forthcoming 

 meet and all are interes'ed in the 

 points to be discussed. 



But, Mr. Editor, ihnrH are many 

 points at variance betweea the true 

 lovers of birds and the so-called oolo 

 gists, who in the main m ly much better 

 be called "egg collectors" and in 

 many cases ''crank collectors" without 



a particle of scientific interest. 

 There are, most unfortunately, far too 

 many cheap collectors of eggs, or 

 wealthy buyers of their collections who 

 have next to no knowledge of ornithol- 

 ogy, and who think that the whole in- 

 terest centers in amassing a lot of sets 

 of bird's eggs with ihe accompanying 

 data. Out of this class of fad collectors 

 I say, if 1 had it in my power to pre 

 vent this indiscriminate collecting of 

 eggs and amassing of large collections 

 for private use 1 should make the pow- 

 er operative at once. And let me add 

 that there are thousands of the true 

 lovers of our feathered friends in this 

 country who are anxious that congress- 

 ioual action shall b.i taken as to the 

 protection of our birds against the fad 

 collectors of this land. Indiscrimate 

 collecting is gettiug altogether too com- 

 mon. It is a nuisance in the commun- 

 ity and a menace to our future prosper- 

 ity, notwithstanding that it is followed 

 under the flimsy guise of so-called sci- 

 entific collecting. 



The writer has been a coUeetor in his 

 day, and takes pleasure in inspecting a 

 new find, but there are limits, and after 

 careful consideration the decision has 

 been arrived at that the matter of egg 

 collectiag has been va'^tiy overdone for 

 mauy, many years. I am a friend to 

 thn birds and wish to promot« their in- 

 terests, and this article is written with 

 the intention of appealing to the mem- 

 bers of the "Oologist's Association" as 

 well as to the masses to protect the 

 birds of this country, our friends who 

 ai'e so much in need of protection. 



What is oology anyway? If any class 

 or set of collectors think that the com- 

 prehension of the word embraces the 

 ordinary collector of bird's eggs, they 

 are in error. Now let me express my- 

 self as to my opinion as to what con- 

 stitutes an oologist. Oology, as an out- 

 door study is a branch of ornithology, 

 and nothing more, and the man who 

 presumes to elevate it above the study 



