THE OOLOGIST 



285 



home I noted a pair of Brown Thrash- 

 ers sitting in the osage hedge by the 

 roadside with food in their beaks. 

 Probably each pair had a brood of 

 young in the hedge near by. As I was 

 walking along the trolley track where 

 it passes through a small patch of 

 timber near Chippianock Cemetery a 

 Screech Owl (possibly two, for it was 

 so dark that I could not be certain) 

 followed me for several hundred feet, 

 flying from post to post and tree to 

 tree, circling close to my head with 

 vicious snappings of its bill, and keep- 

 ing up a low wailing cry. From its 

 actions I judge that its nest was not 

 far off. 



During the day I saw 58 different 

 species of birds, all summer residents, 

 making a total of 63 different species 

 seen during my trip. The nests of 

 twenty species were found. 



Burtis H. Wilson. 

 Rock Island, 111. 



Hints on Collecting the Eggs of Birds 

 That Breed in Holes. 



The eggs of birds that breed in 

 holes, such as Woodpeckers, Xuthat- 

 ches. Titmice, Flycatchers, etc., are, 

 according to the writer's experience, 

 the most difficult of all birds to collect 

 (excepting some Hawks and Owls) 

 and often require special methods in 

 order to be successful. Some of the 

 following hints may prove useful to 

 those who have not had long experi- 

 ence in this line of collecting. The 

 writer has used them with success 

 for more than thirty years and has 

 found them well adapted to the local- 

 ity in which he lives, which is the 

 southern part of the state of Maine. 



When I began to collect the eggs of 

 Woodpeckers I found the Yellow-bel- 

 lied Woodpecker nesting in live poplar 

 trees at the height of from fifteen to 

 forty feet from the ground. The birds 

 began to dig the holes about the first 



of May. I found it not very diffi- 

 cult to locate the trees in which they 

 were building by traveling around in 

 the woods and listening to hear the 

 birds at work pecking the holes. Af- 

 ter locating it was necessary to wait 

 until it was finished and the eggs laid 

 before making an attempt to collect 

 them. ]\Iy method of getting the eggs 

 was as follows: I visited the tree 

 when, to the best of my judgment, the 

 bird had finished laying the set, which 

 usually consists of five eggs, though 

 sets of four eggs are common and a 

 set of three occasionally is found. My 

 outfit consists of a pair of climbing 

 irons, a one-half inch chisel, saw, (a 

 keyhole saw which can be carried in 

 the pocket) ,and some tin boxes filled 

 with cotton to hold the eggs. After 

 reaching the tree I climb to the nest 

 by using the climbing irons. I used 

 the saw to make two cuts, at right 

 angles across the trunk of the tree, 

 the space between the cuts being 

 about four inches and the lowest cut 

 being as near as I could guess oppo- 

 site the bottom of the nest insite the 

 tree. These cuts were probably an 

 inch and one-half deep. Then with 

 the chisel the piece of wood between 

 the saw cuts was split ofT from the 

 tree. A hole was then dug into the 

 soft wood until the nest was reached, 

 the hole being made only large enough 

 to allow the eggs to be removed. 



In some cases the eggs can be taken 

 out with the fngers though F usually 

 carry for this purpose a sir.all scoo ) 

 net made by bending a piece of fairly 

 stiff wire into a loop and attaching 

 a small cloth bag to hold the eggs. By 

 means of this scoop net the eggs were 

 removed one at a time and each rolled 

 in cotton and placed in the tin box. 

 It often happened that the eggs had 

 not been laid for one can not alwaj's 

 judge the exact time when he will 

 find a set and although I have tried 



