THE OOLOGISl 



them, yet have so few friends. Not 

 necessarily cease collecting, ibut col- 

 lect judiciously, not selfishly and glut- 

 tonously. No man who collects judi- 

 ciously, unless he is making an ex- 

 haustive study of Moults and plum- 

 ages, which very few collectors are, 

 should kill his specimens in the breed- 

 ing season, but should take them 

 either before or after; better by far, 

 after. 



The collector who uses judgment 

 and really has any love for the birds, 

 If he has taken their first set of eggs, 

 will not only refrain from taking 

 their second laying, but will endeavor 

 4o prevent their being disturbed by 

 foes of any kind, human or otherwise. 



Any collector who takes the eggs 

 from an eagle's nest one season, 

 should use every means in his power 

 to see that the birds are not disturb- 

 ed the following season, because it 

 Is a well recognized fact that the 

 eagles do not, as a rule, make a sec- 

 ond attempt to breed the same sea- 

 son, if disturbed in their first. 



In this way we may foster the 

 breeding of the various species in our 

 own localities, for it is at least rea- 

 sonable to suppose that birds which 

 breed and are ibred in a certain sec- 

 tion, will instinctively seek the same 

 •latitude, if not the same locality, 

 when the next breeding season comes. 



Every true Oologist, — and I. mean 

 by that the kind described and exem- 

 plified by the late Major Bendire, — 

 will take as much satisfaction in re- 

 cording the safe raising of a family 

 of rare birds as he will in reporting 

 the taking of a set of eggs of the 

 same species. 



Our authorities who have made ex- 

 tensive examination of the contents 

 of the stomachs of raptorial birds, 

 freely condemn only the Great Horn- 

 ed Owl, Goshawk, Cooper's Hawk, 

 Duck Hawk, Pigeon Hawk and Sharp- 



skinned Hawk. For the first four I 

 have nothing to say, except that from 

 the point of sentiment I should hate 

 to see any species exterminated. The 

 Pigeon Hawk is known to most of us 

 only as a rare migrant, but we had 

 best proceed carefully with the Sharp 

 skinned Hawk. To be sure its food 

 consists principally of small birds. 



The biggest problem in the bird 

 line in this country today is the Eng- 

 lish Sparrow pest, and onithologists 

 are carefully watching the spread of 

 the Starling which is now rapidly go- 

 ing on from around New York City. 

 Some of our best ornithological au- 

 thorities believe that as these or oth- 

 er undersirable species spread, — (Of 

 course it is not yet determined that 

 the Starling is undesirable,) — their 

 natural enemies will hold them in 

 check. If these natural enemies are 

 to do this, high in their ranks must 

 stand the Sharp-skinned Hawk. 



If it is neither feasible nor advis- 

 able to form an Oologist organization 

 which may stand for these and kin- 

 dred ideas, all who .believe in such 

 should endeavor, by precept and by 

 example, to make collecting in this 

 field not merely the preserving of the 

 rare and beautiful, but of equal or 

 greater importance, the preservation 

 of the source of these things. We 

 are all familiar with the old story of 

 the result of "killing of the goose 

 that laid the golden egg." Let all of 

 us collectors take this home to our- 

 selves and not help in bringing about 

 a similar result by killing the bird 

 that lays the rare egg. 



B. G. Willard. 

 Millis, Mass., 



.Jan. 4, 190S. 



The Mourning Warbler, 



This exceedingly shy Warbler ar- 

 rives from the- sunny south the first 

 and second v.etks in May and take 



