154 



THE OOLOGIST. 



Mr. Edward Heller of Riverside, Cal. 

 states in answer to Mr. Grinnells query, 

 that he has shot several specimens of 

 the Virginia Rail near his city the past 

 winter and that they are not an uncom- 

 mon resident, he has observed them in 

 Tule Swamps in June but has not suc- 

 ceeded in yet taking their eggs. 



Dr. Prill, of Oregon, writes under 

 date of Marc 1 30th that the birds are 

 mating and looking for nesting sites, 

 and that the Warblers are arriving 

 daily. 



A. W. B., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, writes 

 of taking a large set of the Downy 

 Woodpecker. The nest when first 

 found contained four eggs, he took 

 three and left one, returning a few days 

 later he found three more eggs. 



E. C. D., Gainesville, Texas, gives a 

 valuable way to dry eggs. After the 

 specimen is blown, and thoroughly 

 rinsed, hold it over a stove, lighted 

 match, or blaze with hole down, and 

 the hot air will very quickly remove all 

 surplus water and render the egg per- 

 fectly dry. He states that the trans- 

 formation will be a genuine . surprise 

 to collectors who have not tried it. 



We have received a number of criti- 

 cisms to the article, "A Criticism" in 

 April Oologist. Two or three sub- 

 scribers, call the writer to question 

 relative to the breeding range of the 

 Barn Owl, claiming it does breed in 

 Indiana, but we regret that they failed 

 to give positive proof or cite reliable 

 authority to corroborate their state- 

 ments. Several correspondents, also 

 state positively that they have observed 

 and identified Wood Thrushes, singing 

 from the tops of forest trees. 



We are greatly indebted to Mr. H 

 Nehrling, of Milwaukee, Wis., member 

 of the A. O. U. for No's of VI, VII, and 

 VIII of his handsome work "North 

 American Birds." The descriptions are 

 not what would be termed strictly scien- 



tific yet they are thoroughly accurate.and 

 very pleasant reading for all. No. VII, 

 besides containing many descriptions 

 of birds, gives some attention to "Mi- 

 gration," "Utility of our Birds," "Birds 

 of Beauty," "Birds of Song," "Bird 

 Enemies", "Bifd Legislation," and 

 various other topics. The plates 

 through the parts thus issued, are mo- 

 dels of Lithographic art, and the gen- 

 eral make up of each number, is of the 

 highest order. It has been decided to 

 make tw o volumes of the work, and num - 

 ber VIII just issued, completes volume 

 I. We would advise all parties interested 

 to send for prospectus or $1.00 for a 

 sample number to his publisher Mr. 

 Geo. Brumder, 288 West Water Street, 

 Milwaukee, Wis. 



"ANOTHER SCHEME," on page 90 

 of the March Oologist, was doubtless 

 read by most of the Oologist' s readers. 

 Since the publishing of this article, we 

 have been more firmly convinced than 

 ever that if the "Scheme" was properly 

 carried out, it could be made of great 

 interest. Having received so many 

 answers from the notice and having 

 thousands of eggs from hundreds of 

 Oologists offered for the exhibit, we 

 have" decided to place the Oological 

 Section of our exhibit in the hands of 

 the readers of the Oologist. Our ex- 

 hibit will occupy 2,000 square feet, in 

 the S. E. Corner of the Ethnological 

 Building — the building assigned for all 

 Natural History exhibits — and will be 

 devoted almost exclusively to Oology, 

 Ornithology, Conchology, and to the 

 Instruments, Supplies and Publications 

 required by the Naturalist. We hope 

 to make the exhibit of much interest 

 and well worth visiting. The Oologi- 

 cal portion of the exhibit shall have 

 preference over all others, and we ex- 

 pect it will occupy about one-third of 

 our entire space. If, however, the 

 Oologists of America see fit to use every 

 inch of the 2,000 square feet allotted for 

 our exhibit, we shall be only to glad to 



