COLLECTING AND PREPARING BIRDS* EGGS. UiJ 



CHAPTER XX. 



COLLECTING AND PREPARING BIRDS' EGGS. 



A cabinet of eggs, varying in size and color, forms 

 one of the most interesting collections of nature. Stu- 

 dents of oology are found in all lands, and number many 

 enthusiastic ladies. Eggs are mor^ difficult to procure 

 than birds and animals, lodged as tney generally are in 

 cliffs, marshes, and tree-tops, or hidden in treacherous 

 banks, hollow stumps, thick grass, and rushes. 



To be successful, one must closely watch the move- 

 ments of birds, and diligently search for their nesfcs. Indi- 

 viduals of the same species often vary in their mode of nest- 

 ing. The wood-duck builds its nest in a hollow tree. 

 Other closely related species build nests on the ground. 

 The worm-eating warbler selects terra-firma, and still 

 other warblers build in trees and bushes. On the 

 islands in the Bay of Fundy, herring gulls breed in trees ; 

 in other localities, the nest of this bird is found on the 

 ground. Some species build their nests both in the trees 

 and on the ground, such as the marsh-hawk, short-eared 

 owl, brown thrush, swamp black-bird, Carolina dove, 

 etc. There is one species (the cow-bunting) which never 

 builds, but deposits its eggs in the nests of other birds 

 much smaller than itself, such as the vireo's, sparrow's, 

 and warbler's. I have a nest of Vireo olivaceus contain- 

 ing but one egg of the vireo and three of the large brown 

 eggs of the cow-bunting. The shiftless bunting never 

 assists in incubation or feeding the young, but leaves the 

 industrious little vireo to satisfy the ravenous appetites 

 of a family of usurpers. 



Larks, waders, snipe, woodcock, quail, and grouse, 

 make their nests on the ground. The chimney swallow 

 lays its eggs in a skeleton nest of dead twigs, glued to- 



