THE OOLOGIST 



215 



week. I moved to Jacksonville the 

 11th, and cannot say how this pair 

 made out with raising the brood. 



This wren is a versatile nest build- 

 er and can be found in almost every 

 location from • cans to cavities in a 

 bank along side a road. In holes in 

 posts, old hats hanging up in an out 

 house, in dwellings in corners on 

 shelves, etc. etc. Almost every desert- 

 ed old house in the country has its 

 wren nest and were it not for the rats, 

 there would be no telling how many 

 wrens we would have, as it is, how- 

 ever, the increase is not noticeable. 



To me the Florida Wren is the fin- 

 est singer we have and while the 

 much famed Mockingbird is a good 

 one, he is only an amateur compared 

 to some wrens I have known here. 

 The wrens song has the fire and 

 vigor to it that thrills one as the song 

 of no other bird does. While partial 

 to the vicinity of man, this wren also 

 seeks the densest swamps and I have 

 found them breeding in swamps five 

 miles from any habitation. But his 

 vigorous song is just the same there 

 as when near man. This bird is an op- 

 timist and I have never seen the male 

 fail to sing, no matter what his trou- 

 bles are, and a man is fortunate, in- 

 deed when he can live here where he 

 can have a pair as daily companions 

 for the year round. 



O. B. BAYNARD. 



The following clipping is now drift- 

 ing through the rural press in Illinois: 



"One of the finest private collec- 

 tions of birds' eggs belongs to A. E. 

 Price at Grant Park. This collection 

 consists of about 10,000 eggs which 

 are arranged in a cabinet, each named 

 and labeled. He has two eggs wor 

 and labeled. He has two eggs worth 

 $25. Eggs of all Illinois birds are in- 

 cluded in this collection." 



This shows the value by which the 

 average perscn measures birds" eggs. 

 It is safe to say that cur friend Price 

 does not measure the value of his 

 collection in dollars at all. He is to 

 high class a scientist for that. It de- 

 bases and denicralizes oology to com- 

 mercialize it. 



The value of a specimen depends 

 upon three things; first, the absolute 

 accuracy of identification; second, the 

 character, standing and rank of the 

 name attached to the data accom- 

 panying the specimen; and third, the 

 method of preparation. 



The man who simply measures the 

 value of specimens in dollars and 

 cents is a poor oologist indeed. If 

 they represent nothing better than 

 that, he should at once donate them 

 to some scientific institution and go 

 out of the business. A collection of 

 eggs should represent years of accu- 

 mulated knowledge and personal re- 

 miniscences connec^''^d with the tak- 

 ing of the specimei' 

 should be measured > the amoiiUL u. 

 knowledge acquired, .tud by. the pleas- 

 ure of the reminiscences, not by dol- 

 lars and cents. As r matter of far', 

 no bird's egg has any intrinsic valv.; 



whatever. 



From Tasmania. 



"The Tasmanian Naturalist" publish- 

 ed in the Island of Tasmania, in the 

 South Seas, have on their records, a 

 pair cf ''Welcome Swallows" that rais- 

 ed one perfect albino bird in each cf 

 three successive broods. Now if al- 

 bincism is a disease, then this pair 

 had a bad dose, eh? 



Which Shrike Is It? 



Although I never considered the 

 Shrike a nice bird, yet I have always 

 had quite an interest in it on account 

 of its peculiar makeup and habits; 

 and it is surely of value to the farm- 

 er's crops as it must destroy great 



