THE OOLOGIST. 



51 



[Having no time to attend to this matter 

 ourselves, we will donate space in The 

 OoLOGisT and trust the boys will "work it 

 up." Address L. O. Pindar, Prest., Hick- 

 man, Ky., or J. B. Richards, Sec, Fall 

 River, Mass.] 



ROSEATE SPOONBILL. 



Den r Sir : 



We have not received The Oologist for 

 some time and we miss it very much and 

 hope to receive our copy soon. We think 

 it will be of interest to you and also to the 

 readers of your paper to know that on 

 June 2d, '86, we obtained seven eggs of 

 the Roseate Spoonbill from one nest, which 

 we believe to be the largest set of that 

 species ever obtained. Yours truly, 

 R. E. Rachford & Son, 

 Grigsby's Bluflf, Tex. 



A Cabinet for a Large Collection. 



Editor Ovlogist: 



Dear Sir — In the last two numbers of 

 your Journal I notice communications de- 

 scriptive of Egg Cabinets, their mode of 

 construction, etc., by Messrs. Goss and 

 Westgate. From the descriptions given, I 

 take it their cabinets are intended for sin- 

 gle egg collections, mere matters of curi- 

 osity. 



All those havmg any kind of a collection 

 cannot help but notice the variation in size, 

 coloring, etc.; even a single set of eggs 

 gives you very marked variation, and from 

 a dozen sets from same species, it would 

 almost be impossible to point out the ty- 

 pical set. My collections are made in sets 

 exclusively, and the cabinet which I shall 

 try to describe contains only sets, except- 

 ing where one egg completes the comple- 

 ment. 



At various times during the last ten 

 years 1 have made and had made cases for 

 my eggs, until, by the rapid increase, when 

 Qgg collecting became so common, and 

 rare eggs so easy to get, I found that I 

 needed more room, and then went to work 

 in this wise : I procured four spool cotton 

 cases, made by the Willimantic Company, 

 solid ash except the backs. Two of these 

 contained six drawers each, the others five. 



I had two large drawers made, ash faces, 

 the full width of two. cases sitting side by 



side, and four inches deep. Upon these 

 the six drawer cases were placed and fitted 

 snugly; bj' having the inside top and bot- 

 tom edge of each, sawed flush, the five 

 drawer cases put on top of these similarly 

 filled, and the whole then cased in ash, 

 doors being solid glass fitted with rubber, 

 making them perfectly moth and dust- 

 proof. The metal slip on the face of each 

 drawer, bearing the name of Co. , Six Cord, 

 etc. I reversed, and had painted on them 

 the family name of the .species represented 

 in each drawer. In cases where only a 

 few species represented a family, I asso- 

 ciated them with a near neighbor. 



By these slight alterations the cabinet as- 

 sumed a different appearance, and no one 

 could tell but that it was entirely new, the 

 only give-away being the name of the Co. 

 on the nickel drawer-pulls; but this is 

 scarcely noticeable. Each drawer is filled 

 with 4x3 trays, twenty just filling a 

 drawer, except in two large drawers, trays 

 for which I arranged myself. Each tray 

 is partially filled with cedar sawdust, upon 

 which the set is placed, the data blank be- 

 ing put under the tray. Each tray also 

 bears a small paster, giving number, com- 

 mon and scientific name. 



"Where one tray was too small to hold a 

 large set, two were united bj' cutting out 

 the side partitions and pasting a slip on 

 bottom, thus making all neat and preserv- 

 ing the uniformity. 



The capacity of a cabinet such as I de- 

 scribe, is from 1,500 to 2,000 eggs, depend- 

 ing on arrangement and size of trays used. 



The smaller drawers, two inches deep, 

 will accommodate all eggs from a Hum- 

 mer's to a Common Tern's. The larger 

 drawers, four Inches deep, were made for 

 the eggs of the larger water birds, such as 

 the AnatidiTp etc., and the Strigidne, Fal- 

 conidfe, Cathartidse, etc. 



As a whole, the cabinet makes a beauti- 

 ful appearance, hard oil finish, and the 

 price within the reach of all, mine costing, 

 my work not counted, and exclusive of 

 traj'S, S16.T5. 



The condition into which * * * has 

 been reduced by "Quasi Ornithologists" 



