38 



ORKITIIOLOCJJST 



[Vol. 16-No. :i 



was from information thus acquired and j^ven 

 by me that two farmer's boys tiapped a pair of 

 otters, which netted them ten dollars eadi. 



Eight robins were seen Jan. 1st, at Fairview 

 Iteservoir; Feb. i4th, four robins, at Tadpole 

 Pond; Feb. 21st, a kingfisher and many lilue- 

 birds and song sparrows, at the Basin; Feb. 

 20th, first woo(U-ock seen, Little Mill Pond. 



Though I came up to Killingly in pursuit of 

 the winter birds, I will leave it to the reader if 

 the birds are not "getting onto" me. Just 

 li.sten. A week ago last Friday evening, when 

 walking by the side of Alexander's Lake, with 

 skates in my hand, a Barred Owl of common 

 size but unexampled courage disputed my pas- 

 sage across a small stream of water. I could 

 not make out whether Hyrnium was a-fisliing, 

 looking for rodents in the rockwork, or had 

 some dead quarry near. After a short prelimi- 

 nary skirmish, his audacity cost him a blow 

 from a skate, which put him " out of it" for 

 awhile. But after 1 had dropped my skates 

 and picked up my specimen to smooth its plum- 

 age, the "si)ecimen" came to life with a ven- 

 geance, and, assaulting me in the flank, fixed 

 its talons into my overcoat and the small of my 

 back. Then ensued a battle-royal that would 

 have made the gentle reader laugh in owlish 

 glee to witness. The angry owl, hissing and 

 snapping its bill, and still working its talons 

 through kersey, kilt and jaeger; and J. M. \V. 

 trying to shake himself free, jumping, swearing 

 and blindly striking at his enemy in the rear 

 with an old burnt sassafras stick. 



The next morning I started out early to skate 

 around an unfre(iuented pond near the Khode 

 Island line. WliiU' driving up the .South Kill- 

 ingly Hill, a partridge flew down the mountain 

 with incredible speed and momentum, sweeping 

 the lines from my hand in a twinkhng, and 

 plumping down into the brtish below the road. 

 It was like an electric shock, and all over in a 

 second. While I got out on the shafts to check 

 the startled horse and recover the reins, my 

 assailant got otT scot free. If it had struck one 

 foot I)ack in the carriage it would have broken 

 all the bones in my hand, but its object seemed 

 to be accomplished in neatly sweeping the lines 

 from my fingers. Who, after this, will say that 

 the Rutfed Grouse has never played cat's cradle? 

 or deny that the birds up here appear to be 

 "getting onto" me"? Perhaps the.se Windham 

 County Ijirds will make common cause with my 

 old Xew Loudon County Buteos, which seem to 

 recognize me tlie moment I first reconnoitre in 

 the sjiring, and, from a safe poise in the blue 

 empyrean, challenge my entrance into tliei:- 



haunts with, "Pee-ho! heigh-ho! J. M. W., J. 

 M. W. ! hide our eggs! change our nests! lieigh- 

 ho! pee-ho, pee-ho!" -f- -W- II • 



Norwich, Conn. 



How the Collection of Eggs at the 

 National Museum is Kept. 



The collection of eggs in the National Mus- 

 eum at Washington is undoubtedly the largest 

 and most valuable in the world. In 1887 it 

 contained ;5S,400 .specimens, and it has since 

 grown extensively. It is under the charge of 

 Capt. Charles E. Bendire, U. S. A., the curator 

 of tlie oological department, who has devised 

 the plan of its present arrangement. When he 

 took charge of the collection he found a great 

 many of the eggs in bad condition, and indeed 

 numbers of them were hopelessly damaged. 

 Tlie cabinets which contained them were made 

 in a cheap manner, of badly seasoned lumber, 

 and the drawers had warped so badly that it 

 was a matter of some difBcidty to pull them 

 out or pusli them in, and during this process 

 the eggs rattled against each other (for many 

 of the trays contained no cotton) and were 

 eitlier cracked or broken. 



Capt. Bendire deteimincd tliat he vvouUl 

 arrange them so that tliey would not become 

 any more damaged, and he liit upon a plan 

 whicli admirably serves this purpose, even if 

 it does not display them to the best advantage. 

 He used pasteboard trays which are of a uni- 

 form size, of about four by eiglit inches, with 

 a depth of about flve-eightlis of an inch. Put- 

 ting sheet raw cotton on the bottom of the 

 trays, he cut long strips of the same material 

 of the length i<\' llie boxes, and also of about 

 the same height, lie then placed the eggs in 

 rows in the trays, putting all of one set next to 

 each other, but continuing the row with 

 another set when all of the loi nicr mie were in. 

 When the box was filled, smaller strips of raw 

 cotton were placed between each egg, so that 

 each egg was surrounded on all sides (except 

 the top) by eotlim. Indeed their arrangenu'Ut 

 can be best conipareil to tlie maimer in which 

 certain kinds of toilet soap aie |iacked in 

 pasteboard boxes. 



Of course this method keeps the eggs exactly 

 iu the same position, and allows the drawers 

 to be pulled out and pushed in quite roughly 

 without damaging them, but it has two great 

 disadvantages. First, the arraiigcinent of the 

 eggs contiiuKiusly in tlie trays, without any- 

 thing to designate where one set ends and 



