THE OOLOGIST 



19 



the young thingf have a little down 

 started, the mark is "A." This is about 

 as far as one can reasonably go; but 

 since even a whilom set of eggs, that is 

 almost ready to hatch may, if rai'e, be 

 saved by the enthusiastic collector, 

 such eggs might be appropriatly mark- 

 ed "c," that is practically complete, or 

 "C" if absolutely so. 



The complete code then would be as 

 follows: "O-b-B-e-E-a-A-cC." But 

 one further mark remains to be consid- 

 ered, yet that nearly the most impor- 

 tant of all — infertile eggs should be 

 marked with an "I." 



The value and significance of such a 

 code may partially appear by the cita- 

 tion of an actual entry in my note-book 

 for the current year, opposite a set of 

 Sora, the eleven eggs of which are 

 marked, respectively, "0-b-b-b-b-b-e-e- 

 E-E E." Another set of thirteen eggs 

 tells this story, "O-O-O-b-b-b-b-B-B-ee- 

 e-e." 



The adoption of a code like this 

 would be practically useless, unless 

 such adoption should become practi- 

 cally universal. The problem then of 

 securing such uniformity would be 

 overwhelming, but for the hope that 

 the fathering of this little suggestion 

 by our dear little Oologist may im- 

 press the value of the idea upon a suffi- 

 cient number of thinking oologists to 

 give the idea a good start. 



If the thing "takes," as the politic- 

 ians say, this might, perhaps, be a wise 

 method of bringing the code into use. 

 Until the code had come into wide use, 

 and had become well understood, a 

 whole line, or even two, on the data 

 might be given up to the item "incu- 

 b'n," each abbreviation being fully ex- 

 plained. Then, in tilling out the data 

 for, we will say the larger set of Sora 

 mentioned above, the collector might 

 set down over the "O" a "3;" over the 

 ''b" a "4;" over the "B" a "2;" and 

 over the "e" a "4." Indeed this "3-0- 

 4-b-2-B-3-e" style of abbreviation might 



profitably be used in any case. 



Readers of the Oologist will surely 

 understand that I am not at all wed- 

 ded to this particular code. Any other, 

 which should give the same informa- 

 tion, in more compact and scientific 

 form, would be gladly welcomed. 



What I am aiming at is the adoption 

 of some uniform, simple and reasonab- 

 ly accurate system of symbols, easily 

 and quickly markable on eggs, which 

 system will tell us, with reasonable ex- 

 actness, just when, relatively, the bird 

 'begins to sit, and how uniformly she 

 sits, with other allied and equally valu- 

 able information otherwise unobtain- 

 able. 



"Too muchbother, "somebody growls. 

 Yes, perhaps, my dear fellow; but you 

 are not the sort of collector to whom 

 this sort of communication is address- 

 ed. P. B Peabody, 



St. Vincent, Minn. 



Pinnated Grouse in the Pine Reg-ions. 



Dui'ing the latter part of September 

 I went upon a journey into a rather un- 

 settled region seventy-tive miles north 

 of Minneapolis. I did not go in pur- 

 suit of birds alone but made observa- 

 tions as I journeyed. 



We traveled by wagon and by foot 

 as much as fifty miles and along the 

 route I many times saw the Pinnated 

 Grouse. As the character of the coun- 

 try was such that I did not expect to 

 see this bird I give a short description 

 of it. 



A small river watered the region 

 through which we passed and along its 

 banks, and occasionally in tracts away 

 from the stream, grew beautiful forests 

 of tall maples. But the whole country 

 is, for the most part, known in lumber- 

 man's parlance as "pine slashings." 

 The better timber has from time to 

 time been felled leaving here and there 

 a mammoth which for some reason was 

 not cut. Fire laier swept this territory 



