166 



THE OOLOGIST 



"SAND" 



We have received Vol. 2, No. 3-4, of 

 The Journal of the Museum of Com- 

 parative Oology, and in it find a num- 

 ber of things, of some interest to the 

 average Oologist. Witness; (Page 

 64.) 



"There can be no doubt in a display 

 collection a bedding of eggs iu a 

 smooth level layer of fine gray beach 

 sand is ne plus ultra. The eye hence- 

 forth will never accept any other 

 artifice." 



This pronouncement must of course 

 be accepted as final, because it comes 

 from one revelling in self appointed 

 and self proclaimed and self published 

 leadership. The result necessarily 

 following will be that the great col- 

 lections in the National Museum at 

 Washington, and of John M. Thayer, 

 Lancaster, Mass., A. C. Bent, Taunton, 

 Mass., and The New York Museum of 

 Natural History; and our own modest 

 accumulation of eggs; must either be 

 not displayed, junked or great ship- 

 ments of "fine gray beach sand" ac- 

 quired; because, — "The eye hence- 

 forth will never accept any other arti- 

 fice." It takes a good deal of sand 

 even when backed by such self ap- 

 pointed leadership to require this to 

 be done. 



It takes a good deal of sand to ac- 

 cept a position on the committee, to 

 arrange Exchange List prices and then 

 within less than a year after having 

 signed, published and declared to the 

 Oological World such prices in a Cata- 

 logue, to go back on the work of the 

 Committee, and publish a ' Challenge" 

 to exchange men wherein the prices of 

 71 varieties are challenged! 



We have practiced law nigh onto 

 forty years and have seen many juries 

 in the trial of cases, and heard many 

 verdicts rendered. Personally we have 

 never thought very much of a juror, 

 who after having taken a juror's oath. 



to try a case, and after trying the 

 same and rendering a verdict therein, 

 went out upon the street and sand- 

 bagged the other jurors, by question- 

 ing the correctness and accuracy of 

 the verdict that he just signed and as- 

 sisted in rendering. It takes "Sand" 

 to do this. 



It takes sand to criticise the size of 

 a brother Oologist's collection as on 

 page 61, of this Journal, and on the 

 very next page advertise for "practi- 

 cally unlimited quantities" of bird 

 eggs. More sand than the owner of 

 the largest private collection of North 

 American Bird eggs possesses. 



It takes sand to announce "We are 

 ready" (Page 65-6) to accept and re- 

 ceive donations of bird eggs and nests 

 to a museum apparently mongrel, half 

 private and half public, if the donated 

 articles are not shipped "Charges col- 

 lect" even if such museum is to be- 

 come "A world repository of bird's 

 eggs available alike for the inspection 

 by the humblest student and for re- 

 search provided the Oological Scien- 

 tist, and collectors of world, will sup- 

 ply us with the material." 



The writer's collection is the result 

 of his own individual effort, and in its 

 accumulation we have not leaned in 

 upon the generosity, nor sentiment o' 

 any kindly disposed old ladies. 



It takes sand to descant upon crowd- 

 ing, as the "general fault of most col- 

 lections" after publishing in Vol. I 

 March 1920 the illustration of 47 Hum- 

 mingbird nests jammed into one small 

 drawer. Another shinning example of 

 how "not to do it" appears on page 11 

 of the August 16th. 1921 issue of The 

 Journal. Here are shown 17 Wrens' 

 nests, arranged to look as if they had 

 fallen into a drawer from a passing 

 cart — but no Sand seems to have ac- 

 companied the upset. 



The unfortunate thing for the 

 Museum of Comparative Oology, and 

 its Journal is the extraordinary, 



