22 BIRDS'-KESTING. 



instrument is to be used it is fastened to the end of a 

 straig-ht stick of suitable length. "I have obtained 

 eggs in this way," says the inventor, '^at a depth of 

 four feet, and often taken them out of a nest on the 

 end of a limb too frail to support weight nearer than 

 wdthin six feet of the nest." Some such little scoop 

 or dipper would be excellent in cliff-Avork, also, I 

 should think, but I must confess to a lack of experi- 

 ence in that kind of collecting. 



Another little device worth mention is this : when 

 you are uncertain whether a nest, the interior of 

 which is overhead and out of sight, contains eggs 

 or not, you can often save time and an expendi- 

 ture of strength in climbing by the use of a mirror. 

 Take one of the little round lookinof-Gflasses, which 

 are framed in thin metal with a hino^ed cover and 

 designed for the vest-pocket, or make some similar 

 substitute for yourself, and fasten it to a ferrule at 

 right angles to its surface. When it is to be used, 

 slip the ferrule on the end of a pole of suitable 

 length, and hold the mirror up over the nest ; if 

 there are eggs or young there, it will at once be 

 apparent in its face. A perfection of this instnmient 

 would be the connection of the glass and the ferrule 

 (which latter should be strong) by an universal joint 

 or swivel-arrangement, with a proj^er clamp, so that 

 the mirror could be set at any desired angle. Any 



