296 THE NATURALIST OF THE ST. CROIX 



and should not wonder if Baird on receiving his should make a 

 new species of it. Your eggs were also all desirable, the owl 

 new to me ; the snipe finished out a series of four I have long been 

 trying for, and the Black Captit appears so different from the eggs 

 here that 1 should feel obliged to you if you can procure me one 

 of the birds of which you sent me the eggs. I am on the look- 

 out for some birds 1 skins for you and will try to make an envoy 

 before I leave here. Our spring has set in and we have now the 

 warblers in abundance which are traveling on their northward 

 course. Pay particular attention to them and their eggs as I am 

 almost without any of them in my collection, but I hope one of 

 these days to find them in that northern region which I most 

 earnestly desire to visit. In your letter you say that among my 

 duplicates there were several desirable birds and now I ask why 

 you did not take them ? Please send me a list of what you wish 

 and you shall have all that I have among my duplicates, as they 

 are intended for that purpose. I am now hard at work collecting 

 what I can and some of our spring birds are already breeding. 

 Mr. Krider is not perfectly well and finds it out of his power to 

 come and pay you a visit as his affairs in the sutler business in 

 our army are in such a condition that he cannot leave here for 

 some time. I should like very much to see your supposed eagles' 

 eggs and especially if the nest was found on the rocks. Our 

 common Bald Eagle always builds on trees, our Golden Eagle on 

 rocks, but the eggs are very much freckled with red and brown 

 spots which does not appear to be the case with yours. Mr. 

 Krider was much pleased to see the eggs of the English snipe, 

 and if you get any more please send a pair to him. With regard 

 to any warblers' eggs you may have I shall be very glad to have 

 them even though not thoroughly identified as I might go to 

 Washington and study them out with or from Prof. Baird's col- 

 lection. He has just sent me a set of eggs among which are many 

 new species to my collection and I begin again to hope that some 

 of these days I shall have a show of the North American species. 

 Could you not obtain some of the Raven's eggs of which you 

 sent me the bird? The fact is, that I would like to impress on 

 your mind that even the commonest species breeding in your part 

 of the country would be valuable both to John Krider and myself. 



