July 1891.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



99 



for tlie bird, leaving all save the clutclies, — 

 and little he cares, entirely ignorant as to what 

 the bird has done for its prngeny that are to 

 l)e. "Severe!" eh? "Over-stated?" Go 

 to your cabinet, — what's tliis? "Sparrow 

 Hawk. Collected for Jonathan Egg-lioarder 

 by Tim Tree-shinner. Nest in maple tree, 

 high up." Now that's definite, isn't it, and 

 highly instrnctive. Here's another. "Tule 

 Wren, etc. Nest above water, two feet over 

 grass." Piay what does </(rtf mean ? In view 

 of these vaguenesses concerning location, 

 and miko-up and shape of nests, one depre- 

 cates tlie habit of taking eggs without nests, 

 — a habit widely prevalent, even whore nests 

 are small, shapely and easily transported. (I 

 liave in my cabinet a naked set of eggs of 

 Blue-winged VV^arbler, blown with bin holes, 

 too, though fresh, with but a meagre descrip- 

 tion of that dainty nest now mouldering with 

 the leaves, among which it was so snugly and 

 so cunningly placed.) Thus have we already 

 found two ample reasons why eggs should 

 alivays be, wliere practicable, accompanied by 

 netft-t. For one reascni, even as the gem has 

 its setting and the picture its frame, without 

 which either were stripi)eil of more than half 

 its beauty, so do the poor, naked eggs look 

 hard, awkward and desolate, when taken 

 from their excpiisite cups and removed from 

 the delicately blended neutral tints in the 

 nests that gave foil and character to the richer 

 colors of that which they contained. For the 

 other reason, the eggs tell us nothing whatever 

 about the skill, taste, and wisdom of the bird 

 that laid them, while man, clumsy creature, 

 with his hasty and indefinite datas, tells us 

 very little more. 



One other reason. If the jioor bird has a 

 xnul what .sense of irony must fill that little 

 soul to find that the nest that cost so many, 

 Miiny days of toil and pains is left to her, 

 useless, through the despoiling of the eggs 

 that left her, by sliglit effort of nature, in a 

 few brief days ! " liottei- have taken it all," 

 she cries, "and not have left to utter waste 

 that upon which all my love and skill have 

 been so toilfully spent!" 



•'But nests are, many of them, so unattrac- 

 tive and so common." Do you really think 

 so ? What more common than the nest of the 

 Red-wing ? Yet I have seen <me that would 

 delight an ai list's eye, — the main structure 

 of newly-ripened yellow stems nf early matur- 

 ing grass, bent, crushed and interwoven, and 

 lined with the delicate brown leaves of the 

 sweet Hag, fluted aii<l ribbon-like in their 



withering. Yet even the unattractive nests 

 may have a story to tell. They record, it 

 may be, both fauna and flora of the localities 

 whence they came. This nest of the Pine 

 Warbler, to clench my statement, speaks elo- 

 quently of the forest wliere it was made, with 

 its blending of pine needles and spider webs, 

 of stray wild feathers and slender strips of 

 grape vine. 



My dignified young lawyer-brother, more of 

 an enthusiast for bird-study than he would 

 care to tell, (for did he not crouch and crawl 

 for hours to "mark down" a wary Marsh 

 Hawk last season ?) declared to me, one 

 sultry morning last vacation, his great interest 

 in the collecting of the nexts of birds. "Come 

 down to the bird-house and I'll show you 

 why," he said. 



We unlock and open the door of the little 

 rustic pagoda that nestles among the oaks. 

 He takes down and opens a box containing a 

 few ".Smithsonian sweepings," and among 

 them a Red-poll's nest. "Do you see that?" 

 he said. Looking closely I discerned a human 

 hair! "And do you see that?" he added, 

 with impressive emphasis. Looking still more 

 closely I discovered — of all things on earth — 

 upon the hair the nit of a louse ! 



" There you see," the dignified brother said, 

 "the value of ciixumstantial evidence. This 

 nest is clearly authentic. It comes, as it pur- 

 ports to have come, fi'om nowhere else than 

 from the barbarous regions of unwashed 

 Alaska." 



Forget, I beg of you, the uncoutliness of my 



closing illustration; but remember, in the 



coming months, to txke vvitli you into the 



woods a greater interest in nests, a warmer 



love for the homes of the birds. Save them 



tenderly, p-eserve them carefully; and let 



them find a safe and honored place among 



those treasures, the collection of which is 



wasto and wanton cruelty unless they lead 



yim to a deeper reverence toward Him "for 



whose pleasure they are, and were created." 



P. B. Ppfibodi/. 

 JUirlingtnn, Kan. 



A Curious Find. 



On the 'idtli of April, my cousin, Thos. A. 

 Smithwi.k, took a set of Brown-headed Nut- 

 hatch of four eggs, which contained one single 

 Bluebird's egg. Can anyone else record a 

 case like this?* J- ir. P. Smithwick. 



Sans Souci, N. C. 



• See Hrief Notes. 



