210 



THE OOLOGIST 



of the same bird. The nearest ap- 

 proach to this collection of Black Rail 

 eggs is a nest of four in the Smith- 

 sonian Institution at Washington. It 

 was his desire to have in his collec- 

 tion the eggs from every species of 

 bird known in America, and there are 

 but few that he did not have. 



Mr. Clark has been for many years 

 a member of the National Ornitho- 

 logical Society, and his papers read 

 before the annual meetings of the so- 

 ciety were always acceptable as au- 

 thority. His advice was sought after 

 by ornithologist throughout this coun- 

 try as well as in Europe. Aside from 

 his collection of birds and eggs, Mr. 

 Clark had a rare collection of insects 

 and he also had a small block of 

 nearly every variety of wood which 

 grows in this country. 



From an old Philadelphia Press. 

 Submitted by Richard F. Miller. 



We print the foregoing for the sole 

 purpose of showing how even the 

 best of us (and there's none better 

 than our friend Miller) may be led 

 astray by newspaper generalisms. 



The writer knew Judge John N. 

 Clark (for he was a judge in that 

 state) by correspondence well, for 

 many years. We have hundreds spec- 

 imens of North American bird's eggs 

 in our collection taken by him in his 

 lifetime. Many we have received di- 

 rect from him, and others with nearly 

 every large collection which has come 

 into our possession. He was a nat- 

 uralist of far more than ordinary at- 

 tainments. His specialty was oology. 

 But he has not "just died," for Judge 

 Clark has been dead a number of 

 years. 



We called at his home in Old Say- 

 brook in the late summer of 1912 

 finding the place closed as his family 

 were not at home. He had died more 

 than a year previous to that time. 



His collection of North American 



birds eggs is not and was not at the 

 time of his death, the most complete 

 individual collection known in this 

 country; neither did it approach near 

 to that distinction. It was large and 

 varied, containing about 540 different 

 varieties. It has been the privilege 

 of the writer to examine and cata- 

 logue a list of this collection, and of 

 the data accompanying it. 



Among the rarities it contained, 

 was a full set of nine eggs of the 

 Black Rail. This, however, is not the 

 only complete set known to be in ex- 

 istence. It may be the largest set 

 for aught that we know, but there are 

 a goodly number of sets of the Black 

 Rail in the United States. Four or 

 five sets that we know of were taken 

 by one collector in the last two years. 

 There are many more sets of Black 

 Rail's eggs in existence in the United 

 States than there are of the Yellow 

 Rail. 



It is a pleasure to add to the testi- 

 mony of the worth and ability of this 

 well-known scientist, but it can be 

 done truthfully in giving him a very 

 high place in the ranks of North 

 American Ornithologists, without 

 overdoing it. We have no doubt our 

 friend Miller has recently been read- 

 ing "newspaper ornithology." 



Editor. 



Peculiar Nesting. 



Site of English Pest (Sparrows). 



On a certain farm in southern Wis- 

 consin there was a barn half full of 

 last year's timothy hay, well mowed 

 and solid almost as a rock or bank of 

 earth; into the front of this, exactly 

 like Bank Swallows a whole tribe of 

 sparrows burrowed and built their 

 usual bulky nest of feathers at an en- 

 largement at the extreme end, some- 

 times several feet back and where 

 they twittered and squealed like a lot 

 of rats in a free for all fight. The 



