108 



THE OOLOGIST. 



here in the winter of 1889, one of them 

 I now have iu my eollectioii. 



This Owl is found in great •lumbers 

 in the northern and central parts of 

 British America. It is a shy retiring- 

 bird living in the densest forests only 

 and is seldom seen in the open. It is 

 about 30 inches in length with e^^es and 

 feet greatly out of proportion to its 

 size, it is a day bird like the Hawk Owl. 

 Its principal food is small birds and 

 animals, and when it lives near water; 

 it subsists on lish and shell fish. It is 

 called by the Indians of the Northwest 

 "Nulil tuhl" meaning heavy walker. It 

 nests in high trees, the nest being com- 

 posed of sticks and lined with down 

 and moss. The eggs are two to four in 

 number, and dirty Avhite in color, they 

 measure 2.25x1.78 hundredths of an 

 inch. 



S. O. Bkush,' 

 Milton, Vt. 



CollectiDg and Collectors- 



Many times my mind has been called 

 to the fact that many eggs and lairds are 

 uselessly destroyed. I have on several 

 occasions been in the field with collect- 

 ors who ])ersisted in collecting every 

 egg they came 'icross. I have also seen 

 collectors who had hundreds of eggs 

 of our common House Finch. How 

 they ever prepared the data or how 

 they will ever dispose of the eggs I do 

 not know: hut I do know that many 

 birds liave been uselessly destroyed by 

 them. If one is collecting sets, Avhat is 

 the use of taking the only egg from a 

 newly made nest, which has caused the 

 parent bird uMich \\;ork and trouble? 

 Or why do some collectors take eggs 

 that are so far advanced in incubation 

 that they can never be preserved? I 

 would say to all young collectors never 

 take an egg unless yo\\ intend to make 

 good use of it; especially of the rarer 

 species. 

 When a set is collected from a small 



nest, the nest should be preserved with 

 the set, as it is the very best kind of 

 data and better than any bcjok for refer- 

 ence. 



Much care sht)uld be exercised in pre- 

 ])ariug the data. Always give good 

 descriptions of the surroundings, also 

 of the nest, if not preserved with the 

 set. Every collector should carry some 

 kind of a field note book, in which ta 

 write the data, when the set is collected 

 The data blank can then be neatly tilled 

 out at leisure. I offer this suggestion 

 for I |have known of collectors wha 

 would not write the data for several 

 daj's after collecting the eggs, when 

 they would write them simply bj' guess. 



Every egg should be IjIowu through 

 as smooth and small a hole as possible, 

 after which it should be thoroughly 

 rinsed wath clean water. This can be 

 done by using a little patience and 

 good instruments, and there is now lit- 

 tle reason why anyone should not pos-^ 

 sess these requisites, if he be a true ool- 

 gist. 



Now a word as to forming private 

 collections and I will close. Let no set 

 or sets creep into your collection unless 

 the)' are indentilied beyond a doubt by 

 reliable collectors. Also be sure that 

 every egg is striclly tirst-class. In or- 

 der to do this don't try to obtain first- 

 class eggs from a collect O!' whom yow 

 know prepares only second-class ones^ 

 but drop him at once and look for a 

 colleclor or dealer wiio can furnish you 

 with specimens Avhich \<m can study 

 with at least some degree of pleasure. 

 Now the collecting season is close at 

 hand. Let us all strive 1o do bettei' and 

 more thorough work in the Held, thus 

 i)eautifying our collection" and promote 

 ing the cause of our beloved science. 

 H. M. Hall, 

 Riverside, Ca!a. 



A Collecting Trip. 

 On the 15th of May last year, my 



