THE OOLOGIST. 



61 



exchanges constantly being made; but 

 presently some new whim supervened, 

 and the eggs which had not met the 

 fate of Tommy's collection were dump- 

 ed into the ash barrel. 



As the spring days open, thousands 

 of would-be naturalists will begin their 

 annual search for birds' eggs. They 

 will do it as many of them collect 

 stamps— just to see how many they can 

 get. They will not aid science in any 

 way; they will add no new or rare spec- 

 imens to local museums; they will sim- 

 ply destroy millions of birds without a 

 thought of anything but a transitory 



pleasure in getting them. 



***** 



Poss'bly one out of the thousands is a 

 born naturalist and may become re- 

 nowned. But one of the first lessons of 

 a naturalist should be economy of ani- 

 mal life. A true naturalist does not 

 slaughter animals promiscouslj ; he is 

 the first to ci-y out against wanton 

 waste of life. He does not empty a 

 nest unless of an extremely rare bird, 

 and not always then. He does not take 

 the eggs of common birds at all, and 

 when he does take one he is careful to 

 preserve it against breakage. It is 

 carefully blown, and if there is an em- 

 bryo it is carefully cleaned, dried, and 

 stored away beyond danger of break- 

 age. 



***** 



Charles Everett Warren, M. D., in "-Otir 

 Animal Friends " 



The Individuality of the Redtail. 



Several times I have noticed articles 

 mentioning the similarity of certain 

 eggs, showing that eggs similar in size, 

 shape or markings are produced by the 

 same birds year after year. 



Red-tailed Hawks remain mated all 

 the year round and below I record two 

 instances where the sets of eggs laid by 

 the same pair of Hawks are marked in 

 the same way. 



On the 10th of April, 1896 1 took a set 

 of two fresh eggs of the Red-tail from a 

 nest in a basswood tree 60 feet from 

 the ground. This set was marked over 

 the entire surface with very distinct 

 splash of brown. 



Again on the 26th of March, 1897, I 

 took another fresh set of two from this 

 same nest. The markings on these 

 eggs correspond almost exactly to those 

 of tl e set of '96. 



A friend of mine took a set of two 

 fresh eggs of the Red tail from a nest in 

 a poplar tree 30 feet from the ground, 

 April 24, 1896. One of the eggs is very 

 slightly lined with brown the other is 

 unspotted. Thirty days later a second 

 set of three was taken from the same 

 nest, laid by the same pair of Hawks. 

 These were all unspotted. 



This year the same pair of birds built 

 a nest about half a mile from their nest 

 of last year, from which I took a set of 

 three eggs on the 17th of April. Two 

 of these are unspotted, the other is 

 slightly spotted with brown. 



R. W. Hegner, 

 Decorah, Iowa. 



Nature-Study for Public Schools. 

 Nature-study, or seeing familiar things 

 in a new light, is a valuable factor in 

 education. How many people can ex- 

 plain, so that a child can understand, 

 why water puts out fire, why some 

 young squash plants bring their shells 

 out of the ground on their backs and 

 others do not; or show the difl"erence 

 between a leaf-bud and a fruit-bud of 

 the apple; or tell from whence all the 

 house flies come? The world is full of 

 such common things, about which peo- 

 ple do not inquire. Yet, such subjects 

 can be made very interesting to chil- 

 dren and they can be taken up in the 

 schools, not as an added recitation, but 

 as a rest exercise once or twice each 

 week to I'elieve the monotony of the 

 school room and later be made the 

 theme for a language exercise. Here 



