238 



THE OOLOGIST. 



out the bird showing the least fear, but 

 duriug the day it is different, one can 

 hardly approach within gun-shot dis- 

 tance in the thick bushes, for the bird is 

 constantly in motion, moving from 

 bush to bush. 



It sings far into the night as I have 

 often heard it as late as eleven o'clock. 

 The alarm note of the bird is, chuck ! 

 chuck ! ! 



The nest is built in some low bush 

 not over six feet high, generally, and is 

 made of grass, roots, leaves aud twigs; 

 sometimes moss. One nest has come 

 under my observation made entirely of 

 yellowish green moss, which was not 

 dry but perfectly fresh. It was a beau- 

 tiful nest, and very compact. 



■ It was placed directly over a large 

 mountain stream and only about H feet 

 above the surface of the water. It was 

 in a fir bush and contained four beauti- 

 fully mameu eggs. ±ney ar° A a green- 

 ish blue ground or'd", spotted with 

 shades of brov ^ chiefly at the larger 

 end, except one which was generally 

 spotted over the entire surface. 



It commences to build about May 1st, 

 and fresh eggs can be obtained about 

 the 15th to June 1st. 



Their average size is about .96x.67. 

 DkJA. G. Prill. 



How Mr. M- Keeps his Oological Treasures. 



I have seen a number of articles on 

 cabinets for birds eggs, but I have never 

 seen one I liked as my own, so I will 

 give it to the readers of the Oologist. 



You all know that light must be kept 

 away from the eggs, and mine is plan- 

 ned for that purpose. 



My case is made of pine, but I would 

 have cedar if I had another made as it 

 is something of a moth preventative. 



It is six feet in heighth and 42 inches 

 in width, and with a depth of 18 inches 

 it contains 16 drawers, in two rows; 

 ranging in depth from 9| to 4 inches 

 deep. This leaves room below the 



drawers for several shelves for books, 

 tools, etc. 



This is not a very expensive case and 

 and it will hold an immense number of 

 eggs. 



I would not have bird skins in the 

 same case with eggs. 



I line the bottom of the drawers with 

 cotton wadding or cotton flannel — 

 white. 



I keep each set of eggs in a separate 

 tray made from black card board. Do 

 not use white card board, as I have 

 heard that the arsenic in it was injur- 

 ious to the. shell. 



The eggs certainly look better in a 

 black box and when this is placed on 

 the white bottom of the drawer, you 

 have some thing you can take pride in 

 looking at. 



I cut a piece of wadding just the size 

 of the tray to lay under the eggs. 



I use Lattin's datas in book form 

 numbering first book from 1 to 100, the 

 second from 101 to 200 and so On. 



In the tray with each set I put a slip 

 of paper. Tags of various kinds or as 

 I do insect labels, and on them I put 

 the number of the species, set mark 

 and a number to correspond to the data 

 in my books. In this way I can tell in 

 a moment all I want to know about a 

 set and it is by far the easiest way I 

 know to keep track of a collection. 



I do not believe this method can be 

 improved. 



I make my own trays because I can 

 do it better than any manufacturer and 

 I can have any size. 



I take a piece of board about f inch 

 thick and cut a hole in it the size I 

 want a tray and then make blocks to 

 fill it, aud a lot of small wedges. I 

 make one of these for each size of tray I 

 want. I take my card board and cut it 

 the right size. I have them § inch deep 

 and score it with a knife f inch from 

 and then cut in at the end with shears 

 so the lap will come at the end, break 

 them well at the score marks, put mu- 



