THE OOLOGIST 



91 



of Salem, X. J., was instantly killed 

 by a fall from the Xockaminon Cliffs, 

 a few miles above Philadelphia, 

 while endeavoring to get down to a 

 Duck Hawk's nest. He went up the 

 Delaware River about noon of that 

 day in the steam cars, and stopped at 

 a nearby canal lock to get the attend- 

 ant to go with him, to the site of the 

 nest, but was compelled to go alone. 

 He took with him a well-used one- 

 inch rope, and also a new one of the 

 same size — the latter four hundred 

 feet long. With these on his shoulder 

 lie climbed to the top of the cliff 385 

 feet high, and when there used his 

 older rope to lower himself down a 

 steeply sloping bank about 100 feet to 

 the brink cf a sheer drop clear to the 

 bottom. At this point his rope was 

 found, neatly coiled ready for use, and 

 his hat lying on top of it. The site of 

 the nest was about fifty feet below 

 him, on a ledge only one foot wide 

 and about six feet long. He evident- 

 ly lost his footing, while looking down 

 head foremost into the rocks 285 feet 

 below. The body rolled into a little 

 clump of bushes and was not found 

 until the next afternoon, when a party 

 of girls gathering wild flowers came 

 across it lying within a short distance 

 of the public road. 



Mr. Crispin is well known to our 

 readers through the interesting arti- 

 cles which he has from time to time 

 written for the columns of THE 

 OOLOGIST. This spring he took a 

 trip after Bald Eagles' eggs in Vir- 

 ginia, and around Washington, and 

 was very successful. He was a most 

 remarkably easy and agile climber, 

 and absolutely fearless. His local col- 

 lection of eggs was a fine one, and in- 

 cluded among its treasures a series 

 of some ten sets of the Eagle eggs, all 

 of his own taking; a series of thirty 

 sets of Osprey eggs; a set of locally 

 taken Wood Duck eggs, and a hand- 



some set of five Upland Plover, which 

 has already been noticed in THE 

 OOLOGIST. He was a member of the 

 A. O. U. and also of the Delaware Val- 

 ley Ornithological Club, and altogeth- 

 er one of the most likable young fel- 

 lows that anybody ever met. A wife 

 and three young children mourn his 

 terrible death. 



The Xockaminon Cliff on the banks 

 of the Delaware river, is quite noted 

 locally as a nesting place of a pair of 

 Duck Hawks. Mr. Gillem, of Ambler, 

 Pa., has a dozen sets of eggs taken in 

 different years from probably the same 

 pair of birds, and only about ten days 

 before the accident, had let himself 

 down the cliff in search of another set. 

 He stated that he believes the birds 

 did not nest there this year, and it is 

 certain that they were not there when 

 Mr. Crispin had his fall, for another 

 local Oologist scaled the rock only 

 the day before. 



R. P. Sharpies. 

 West Chester, Pa. 



In Memory of William B. Crispin. 



I first became acquainted with 

 "Billy" Crispin in the summer of 1908, 

 through Mr. Carpenter, of Salem, X. .J. 



On September 12, 1898, he came 

 over to see me for the first time, and 

 I returned the visit May 13, 1899. 



At that time he was a boy in his 

 teens, just commencing to make a col- 

 lection of eggs. I had started over 

 again, after many years of inactivity, 

 and was eager to have a young man 

 like Crispin with me in the same hob- 

 by. Being reared in the country, Cris- 

 ])in had a good opportunity to procure 

 the eggs of all the birds that nested in 

 his locality. 



In the summer of 1901 he yearned 

 for new scenery, and started July 10, 

 on his wheel to Buffalo. After taking 

 in the exposition, he rode on to 

 Maine, and returned to my house on 



