46 



THE OOLOGIST. 



smallest aud most heavily incubated 

 eggs cau easily be blown by making the 

 opening large enough and by bloiving 

 long enotigh. 



When I wrote to luj- cousin describ- 

 hig my method of blowing eggs he re- 

 plied that he had a trick of blowing 

 them through one hole in the side, 

 which he learned from reading your 

 paper. When I visit him I shall see 

 what there is in it. 



Some of the collectors in this neigh- 

 borhood have little cards upon which 

 they write the date, species, locality 

 and other items concerning the eggs 

 they find. They place these cards, 

 which they call datas, w^ith the eggs in 

 their museums. I do not need these 

 datas, for I am familiar with the eggs 

 of this region and know the history of 

 all the eggs in my collection. It is also 

 a great bother to till out a data for 

 every egg one finds. And then when 

 one is showing his collection to his 

 friends, it is a gi'eat display of knowl- 

 edge to know each egg by name, though 

 frequently the eggs of various species 

 do resemble one another in a perplex- 

 ing degree, but I have some little 

 point which I always note and thus tix 

 the eggs of each species in my mind. 

 Sometimes I write the name upon the 

 eggs and thus avoid any mistake, and 

 am saved tha trouble of filling ont the 

 little datas. 



Many of the species represented in 

 my collection are in no other collection 

 in this vicinity. I have a fine egg of 

 the Turkey Buzzard, which I found in 

 a nest in the top of a large maple in a 

 grove. I was collecting one afternoon 

 this spring, when I observed theTurkey 

 Buzzard tiy from the trees some dis- 

 tance ahead, and highly excited I rush- 

 ed forward to find a large nest high in 

 the maples. 1 seldom climli into the 

 treetops for nests, as one so frequently 

 finds them empty and I dislike climb- 

 ing for nothing. But I felt that this 

 was an opportunity too good to be lost, 

 for 1 knew that no other collector here- 

 abouts had eggs of this species in his 



cabinet. I clambered up the tree and' 

 mounted to the nest, which had pre- 

 viously been occupied by Crows, and 

 in it 1 found one egg of a pale bine 

 color. I w;is .somewhat disappointed 

 in the size of the egg, which I imagined 

 would be larger, but I was too elated 

 over my great find to complain. The 

 egg is now snugly jjaeked away out of 

 sight and harm's way until fall, when 

 1 shall send my collection to the county 

 fair and spi'ing a grand surprise on the 

 boys who intend to send their collect- 

 ions for competition. 



I make it a rule to take all the eggs. 

 I find, for in case of breakage in carry- 

 ing, blowing or handling, I can replace 

 ^"y Pg^-'' bi"oken and thus till out the 

 sets. Also I have heard that it is the 

 thing to have a series of eggs of the 

 different birds of the vicinity, and by 

 taking all the eggs I tind, I can foi'm 

 full series. My series of Catbird eggs 

 embraces thirty-five specimens, and I 

 have a choice series of twenty-four eggs 

 of the Turtle Dove. Then by taking 

 all the eggs I am able to secure speci- 

 mens of species not in other collections. 



If the eggs are unfamiliar to me I 

 refer to the ''Universal Handbook of 

 Ornitholog3'," for which I paid one 

 dollar, and by its help I can easily de- 

 termine the names of all my eggs. 

 From the use of this book I find that 

 many birds breed around here which 

 are generally thought to breed bej'ond 

 our limits. I advise every collector to 

 have a copy of some good work on 

 ornithology by which he can study up 

 on the birds he meets. 



If you see fit to publish this iu your 

 paper please send me a few extra 

 copies to hand to my friends, as I wish 

 them to know I am writing for the 

 paper. Yours, 



John B. Hindtime. 



P. S. I neglected to mail the fore- 

 going letter on time, and since it was 

 w^'itten 1 visited my cousin and ex- 

 amined the eggs in his museum, 



Mr. Editor he has a trick of blowing 

 eggs tiu'ough one hole, and a small one 

 too, in the side, and I must have a set 

 of those instruments for preparing.eggs. 

 I saw a copy of your paper in his desk,, 

 and I tind your terms are only fifty 

 cents a year, Avhile I paid one dollar 

 for my •'Universal Handbook," which 

 my cousin says is a fraud. He tells me 

 that all the best books on ornithology 

 are advertised in j'our paper, as well 

 as the latest ideas on oology, and I en- 

 close fifty cents for a year's subscrip- 



