20 



THE OOLOGIST. 



examined on the 19tb. of this month, as al- 

 ready related. As he was no climber, he 

 secured the services of a workman and took 

 along an extensive ladder. Later he told 

 me that after vain attempts to erect the 

 ladder they gave it up, but by the use of 

 the strap and irons, got one egg from the 

 nest. That had been set on for a week or 

 more. Of course I was glad for him that 

 he was successful, but I would very much 

 like to know why that Owl didn't fly out 

 when I wanted her to. I wo'ider if col- 

 lectors generally use a "strap" for heavy 

 climbs? I never did until last year, al- 

 though I often intended trying one. Mine 

 is 15 feet long. If inches wide, by nearly 

 3-16th of an inch thick, made of good har- 

 ness leather. It is really in two pieces, one 

 piece has a heavy buckle at one end and a 

 snap hook at the other; the second piece 

 has holes to fasten in the buckle, and in the 

 other end of it are secured four heavy 

 rings, sewed in tight, at distance of six 

 inches apart. By snapping hook to end 

 ring and buckling up so as to draw the 

 body close to the tree I am ready to start, 

 not touching my hands to the tree at all, 

 but grasping the strap which passes close 

 under my arms and around the tree. As 

 I climb I raise the strap, and when tired I 

 can lean back in the strap and rest com- 

 fortably, ^s the tree gets smaller I snap 

 the hook mto a shorter ring to take up 

 slack. In coming to a limb I tind it much 

 easier to make use of the snap than to use 

 a buckle. Ortyx. 



Chester Co., Pa. 



My First Hunt for Tern Eggs. 



One warm, sultry day in the latter part 

 of June, 1888, after loaf ing about the house 

 and amusing myself in killing a lot of 

 those pesky little insects, the musquito, 

 and thinking what I should do to pass my 

 time away in the afternoon, I was sudden- 

 ly started by hearing somebody calling 

 me, and almost before I could answer, I 

 beheld the familiar form of my chum and 

 playmate, George Whittington, standing 

 before me. After talking to him for a few 



moments, my father made his appearance 

 and gladdened our hearts by telling us to 

 be ready after dinner to make a trip to 

 Gull Island. After getting a basket and a 

 few necessary articles ready, we were 

 called to dinner, but I was in such a flur- 

 ry that very little dinner I ate. After din- 

 ner we had a short walk of a quarter of a 

 mile, to our boat, then everything was 

 packed snugly away in the bow of our 

 boat, sails were raised, my father took the 

 rudder, and away we went sailing over the 

 bright blue waters of the bay. After sail- 

 ing for about an hour and a half we sud- 

 denly rounded a bend in the inlet and Gull 

 Island lay before us. And well may it be 

 called Gull Island, for all at once large 

 flocks of Com. Tern and Black Skimmers 

 arose from the sand and filled the air with 

 sweet music. It did not take us very long 

 to make everything snug on board of our 

 boat, and then we scampered off on a tour 

 of inspection. This was the first time I 

 had ever visited this island, which is noth- 

 ing more than a sandbar, inhabited only by 

 sea birds, sand-fleas, musquitoes and the 

 different species of shells. I wish some of 

 my readers had been here to see what a 

 beautiful sight this small sandbar present- 

 ed, for wherever the eye rested you were 

 always sure to see a rude nest or hole in 

 the sand containing from one to three eggs. 

 We were kept busy in gathering the eggs, 

 and my chum would cry out every once 

 and awhile for me to come to him quick, 

 to see what kind of an egg this one was, 

 till I was greatly excited, and in my haste 

 to pick up the eggs I missed a great many 

 nests. After about haH' an hours work we 

 were called by my father who said it was 

 time to be getting under way, for the tide 

 was rapidly falling, and we had to make 

 for home or else get stuck on the sandbars 

 or oyster beds, of which there are a great 

 many in our bay. While sailing along we 

 took account of stock, and found that be- 

 tween the three of us we had collected 357 

 Common Tern, 74 Black Skimmer, 17 

 Herring Gull and 6 Laughing Gull, or a 

 total of 454 eggs in half an hour, and I 

 have no doubt some of them are in some of 



