THE OOLOGIST. 



41 



do not see that the shipper was at fault 

 and so one must bear with it. 



But here in our own service, where 

 the box is never opened from the time 

 it leaves the shipper until it is received 

 by the consigoee, a broken egg should 

 rarely, if ever, be found. Collectors, 

 as a rule, iire uither too anxious to save 

 a few cents' postage or will not spare 

 the time to tack a few reinforcements 

 into their cigar box before packing the 

 eggs. This is the greatest fault. 



Secondly corner the careless manner 

 in which the specimens are rolled in 

 cotton. As a matter of fact I have re- 

 ceived eggs from collectors packed in 

 cotton that had been used in the field 

 and over and over again until it was 

 but little better than excelsior. 



Other collfcctors have the habit of 

 putting in a layer of cotton, then a lay- 

 er of eggs, and so on until the box is 

 filled. To such collectors my senti- 

 ments are perJ^aps beat unsaid. No 

 doubt others have received eggs from 

 these same collectors in this condition. 



I may have spoken harshly in this ar- 

 ticle, but those to whom it applies I 

 trust will digest every word as meant 

 for them. And now a few instructions 

 on packing eggs. 



1st. Ship by express instead of mail 

 whenever possible. 



2d. Reioforce all cigar boxes by 

 tacking small cleats on the inside to 

 prevent cover from crushing in. 



3d Wrap each egg carefully in a 

 8 rip of thin while wadding, which has 

 been previously separated down the 

 center, allowing the soft side to come 

 in contact with the egg. Wrap each 

 egg around the smaller diameter first, 

 then around the greater, and lastly use 

 a few turns of thread to keep the cotton 

 in place. 



4th. Put a thick layer i.f cotton into 

 bottom and top of box. 



5th Pack each egg in very carefully 

 and use great cauiion in closing lid of 

 box. (Many are broken this way.) 



6th. Use heavy wrapping paper and 

 ptout twine, address plainly and don't 

 forget, if your conscience will allow of 

 it, the glass notice, where our careful 

 manipulator, thi' postal clerk, will see 

 it. 



7th. Be ready to make all losses 

 good. 



Yours for more care, 



J. B. Newton. 

 Unionyille, Conn., Jan. 15, 1901. 



Field Notes from Manitoba. 



On May 4th I found two nests of 

 Krider's Hawk, one in a partly dead 

 elm 20 ft. from ground. To this nest I 

 climbed and found it contained nothing 

 but appeared to be ready for eggs. The 

 other was also in an elm about the 

 same height and was no: quite ready 

 for eggs. On May 9th 1 tried these 

 neslri again, but found them empty. 

 On both occasions the old birds circled 

 above the trees and scolded me for my 

 intrusion so I decided to call again So 

 on the 22d I called on my way home 

 from the swamp, still no eggs A little 

 further down in the woods I saw a very 

 small nest in an oak, not more than 15 

 ft. up and climbed to it. It contained 

 two eggs of Red-tail, both were incu- 

 bated. This then was the second nest 

 built by this pair, the first nest having 

 been deserted because I had climbed to 

 it on the 4th of May. The nest was 

 very small, no larger than my two 

 hands and quite loosely put together. 



On May 31st while looking for Marsh 

 Hawk's nests I called for the third time 

 at the Krider's nest located May 4th, 

 and as it was still empty I knew there 

 must be another somewhere. A search 

 revealed a nest in top of a tall oak, but 

 the bird was absent so I did not climb 

 but toward evening I called round 

 again and at my approach the bird left 

 the nest. I quickly iLade the ascent 



