ORNITHOLOGIST 



— AND- 



OOLOGIST. 



Egg-Freaks or Egg-Frauds? 



Encouraged by the editorial on egg-frauds 

 in the March number of tliis Journal, I am 

 tempted to transcribe a blurred page from my 

 early experience in exchanging, before I burn 

 the record of many outlawed exchanges and 

 purchases. 



Remember, I am an old-time collector, be- 

 ginning when oology was in its infancy in this 

 country, have lived through the Dark Ages, and 

 possibly have contributed my mite to raise the 

 standard of exchange. I used to send speci- 

 mens to all collectors and dealers east and west, 

 to the "rising oologists," and even to the vet- 

 eran ornithologists of the country press. Oh, 

 I have tried them all, and have a queer lot of 

 "souvenirs" to pay for my inexperience. It 

 was then that I formed the rule if there was a 

 suspicion of anything "shady" about a trans- 

 action, simply to pocket the loss and drop the 

 correspondent as quickly as I would a lousy 

 nest of the European House Sparrow. 



I'crliaps some erred through ignorance, and 

 some sent what had been sent to them, assum- 

 ing no responsibility. Perhaps some of the 

 gre.at men deputized the packing, so I will 

 only cite cases where I find the accompanying 

 letters are plain "give-aways.'" 



I still have in my possession (O, yes, I keep 

 them all!) a long, white monstrosity, moi"e 

 like a goose egg than anything else, sent to me 

 at a good round price as a Prairie Falcon's 

 egg. And this was done by a western collector 

 and writer now well known to fame. The 

 readers of the O. & O. would be surprised if I 

 could be jiersuaded to give them his name. 



From another western collector and writer 

 (who also does not let his light shine under a 

 bushel), to whom I sent several dollars for 

 Rosy Spoonbill's eggs, I received the pale, 

 worn European types, so common and cheap 

 abroad. 



To still another collector in this unconscion- 



able West I sent seventy-five cents apiece for 

 three cracked Saw- whet Owl's eggs. This en- 

 terprising collector even went so far as to send 

 me in advance a nicely executed diagram of 

 the eggs, the position of cracks and mended 

 fractures. And what do you think he sent me? 

 The poorest specimens of Red-shouldered 

 Hawk's eggs I ever saw. This was indeed 

 "carrying coals to Newcastle." Perhaps he 

 thought ,J. M. W. had never seen a Buteo's 

 egg! And seventy-five cents ajnece! Why, 

 to-day, if I was a dealer I vvould send him one 

 hundred nest-washed eggs of B. lineatus, now 

 on hand in original sets, at ten cents each. 

 Most of these eggs were taken simply to pre- 

 vent farmers from shooting the old birds while 

 covering the incubated eggs. 



I cannot give a full list of the contents of 

 my drawer of curiosities in this line — memor- 

 abilia of a dark age of oology, when data was 

 scanty, specimens few, and some collectors 

 (shall I say?) unscrupulous. I only refer to a 

 few specimen nest-eggs. Here is an unblown 

 egg of Sharp-shinned Hawk sent by a collector 

 who has been on government surveys. That 

 manipulated egg of Gallas doinefiticns was sent 

 to me from an unknown but youthful source, 

 as an egg of the Mexican Condor. Those are 

 a set of Grey Eagle's eggs, if you know what 

 tfiPi/ are, ([ don't), taken also, of course, by a 

 "rising ornithologist," and taken, the notes 

 say, "on top of a mountain." By this time 

 these two "rising" oologists should be wholly 

 risen or at the zenith of their careers; but I 

 am afraid they will never outdo the "Condor's" 

 egg, which is hand-painted in original colors. 



Look at these Black Hawk's eggs. That 

 one witli a broad Sanctijohaiinis band around 

 it, said to have been taken in Wyoming or 

 adjacent territory by Mr. R. Ridgway, was 

 sent by a great dealer in order "to console me 

 for the disappointment in not forwarding a 

 Bald Eagle's egg," for which I had sent a 

 five-dollar note. These three Hummers' nests 



Copyright, 1810, by Fraxk B. Webster. 



