THE OOLOGIST 



11 



of THE OOLOGIST. We found the 

 Doctor at his home, engrossed in bus- 

 iness. As we had not seen him since 

 the World's Fair, year of 189:3, it was 

 a pleasure to renew acquaintance. 

 Lattin in his day was iirobably the 

 best known bird egg man in North 

 America. Though he is entirely 

 out of the game now, he has not los: 

 all his interest in the subject. He is 

 at present coroner of his county, and 

 one of the leading doctors therein, 

 as well as largely interested in or- 

 chards, and he told us that apples, 

 and not eggs, were his hobby at pres- 

 ent. 



From there we drove out a few 

 miles in the country to the home of 

 E H. Short. Everybody that knows 

 a bird's egg, knows Short, either by 

 sight, corresi)ondence or reputation. 

 We had never seen him, and found a 

 talkative, genial, active man of about 

 thirty-five years of age. His den is 

 a little one story building out in the 

 country containg three rooms. Here 

 he does all his scientific work, keeps 

 his specimens, and packs and ships 

 from this headquarters. Truly, a 

 more disorderly appearing place of 

 its kind has never come under our 

 observation. It was an astonishment 

 to us, the readiness with which he 

 would lay his hands upon specimens, 

 data, or anything else that he might 

 want, amid the chaotic surroundings. 

 The ])lace may have been swept out 

 and dusted since he first moved in, 

 though it certainly showed no evi- 

 dence of that fact. Yet, withal, in 

 such surroundings, there was an air 

 of the home of a scientist. Short him- 

 self was engaged in unpacking and 

 arranging a large collection of eggs 

 that he had recently got from F.T. 

 Pember, the well-known scientist of 

 Granville, New York, which included 

 such a*are and desirable specimens 

 as Black Rail, Swallowtail Kite, 

 Whooping Crane and the like. 



Driving back to Albion, we called 

 at the establishment of A. M. Eddy, 

 from which THE OOLOGIST is print- 

 ed and mailed, and found a first class, 

 thoroughly equipped establishment of 

 its kind, though were disappointed in 

 learning that Mr. Eddy himself was 

 in Europe. 



Leaving there we drove Southward- 

 ly to Penn Yan, N. Y., arriving there 

 at supper time. From here we proned 

 Verdi Burtch of Branchport, and 

 soon were on a little electric road 

 and at his home. Burtch is overhead 

 in business, being the leading mer- 

 chant in that vicinity, and apparently 

 doing nearly all the business there- 

 abouts. His collection is one of the 

 best Ivept and neatest that we have 

 ever seen. Of course his series of 

 Warblers is one of the finest in Amer- 

 ica. The arrangement of the nest be- 

 ing unique so far as we know. Each 

 Warbler's nest is placed in a small 

 basketlike contrivance made of wire 

 under which, extending downward, is 

 another wire similar to the stand of 

 a glass tumbler. This is inserted in 

 a square, thin piece of wood forming 

 a base. These bases of wood are 

 painted black and are all of the same 

 size, about four inches square, as we 

 remember it. The eggs are placed 

 in the nests and in this way the nests 

 and eggs may be moved about in a 

 manner similar to the movement of 

 trays in the ordinary arrangement of 

 a collection. 



Mr. Burtch's home is ideally situa- 

 ted for one with his tastes, being on 

 a high hill, the back yard sloping 

 down to the reed grown shores of a 

 lake, and he told us of the taking of 

 rails and similar birds' eggs in his 

 own back yard. Our only regret was 

 we could not remain longer here. 



At this place we were sorry to miss 

 C. F. Stone, a phone to his home 

 bringing the word that he had gone 

 hunting. 



