May, 1893.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



71 



woods, which were five miles from town and 

 never been explored so far as we could as- 

 certain by careful questioning, contained a 

 mine of wealth for collectors. We were 

 greatly surprised to read that any birds 

 nested in March, and we hardly believed 

 it; we knew that none of the fellows there 

 ever started out until May, and May first 

 was considered too early to hope for much 

 success. 



We determined that next spring we would 

 make those other fellows open their eyes if 

 that book, which was written by a man 

 named Coues, was at all reliable, and ac- 

 cordingly we took the first holiday and 

 tramped off to the woods to verify our sus- 

 picions if possible. They were verified. 

 We found that the woods comprised a big 

 marshy area of ground, with numbers of big 

 Cottonwood trees scattered through ; and fif- 

 teen minutes after entering the edge we spied 

 a bulky object in a tree some distance off, 

 and racing over found that it was really an 

 old nest, and a big one. A Crow's nest 

 without doubt, we assured each other, and 

 shook hands gleefully. During the next 

 hour we found three more wrecks, and then 

 went home satisfied and full of wild enthu- 

 siasm and excitement, which we found hard 

 to hide at school the next day. 



It was a good while till spring, though, 

 and we cooled off some, read our book care- 

 fully, ordered a bigger drill for the prospec- 

 tive eggs, made a couple of larger and deeper 

 collecting boxes, and completed arrange- 

 ments by getting a ball of heavy twine to 

 lower the boxes and eggs from the nests. 

 " It will be awkward lugging all that stuff 

 along, but it would be too risky bringing 

 those eggs down in our mouths." We were 

 ready to tackle a colony then. 



April 19th — a day I shall always remem- 

 ber, I believe — was the day we set for our 

 hunt. The book said the last of March or 

 the first of April, but that was ridiculous. 

 It was too cold for a bird to sit all day on a 

 nest then. The man that wrote that book 



was a little imaginative, we said, and the 

 19 th was probably too early, but we would 

 go then to make sure. 



As the day grew near we became nearly 

 wild with the exciting prospect ; though, as 

 we afterwards confessed to each other, neither 

 of us had but a faint hope. Those nests had 

 looked so old. 



The iSth was muggy, and we were blue, 

 for we were forbidden to go if it was rain- 

 ing. We cheered each other u]3, though, and 

 as we parted at school I told Charley I would 

 be there all right in the morning. I was to 

 call for him, as he was nearest the woods, 

 and I was to be there at 4.30 so we could 

 get there by good day-light and have plenty 

 of time for a long hunt. I woke at three, 

 three-quarters of an hour before I needed 

 to ; but I hurried into my clothes and went 

 out doors. My heart sank, for though it was 

 too dark to see it felt wet and I knew it was 

 going to be a bad day. I went dismally in 

 when suddenly it flashed over me that I was 

 forbidden to go if it was raining. It -vasn't 

 raining, and I gobbled my breakfast cold, 

 tied up my lunch, grabbed my box and 

 rushed off before it could begin. One 

 whistle brought Charley out, declaring that 

 I was late and that he had been waiting an 

 hour and a half ; but on consulting the watch 

 that I had borrowed from my brother we 

 found that I was twenty minutes early, and 

 that he had been waiting about sixteen. We 

 aimed for the edge of town, and had hardly 

 reached the outskirts when a steady drizzle 

 began ; but that was nothing now, and we 

 sang and whistled and once in a-while gave 

 wild yells to let off the excitement we felt. 



I looked at the watch as we reached the 

 edge of the woods and found that it was 

 5.15, and then I tripped over a root and 

 threw it accurately at a log near by. The 

 hands went on a strike immediately, although 

 the watch was not a repeater, and we were 

 minus the time. We were a little put out at 

 that, for the rain was still with us and there 

 could be no sun to tell time by. Charley 



